Shinobi Amongst Godlings Book One
by Tactition101
Summary: Take a son of Poseidon and add the chakra and experience of a century old wind using Jinchurikki. Let the pwnage begin.
1. My New Assignment Math Teachers Are Evil

Shinobi Amongst Godlings

Summary: I thought when I died that I could finally enjoy retirement. But it seems like Kami has other plans.

AN: This is going to be similar to my Sensors story due to the fact that I'll be transcribing a good chunk of this. That does not however mean that I own the book. Also, I should warn you all to the fact that Naruto will be pretty much untouchable in lightning thief due to his experience although I do plan on eventually doing the other books as well where the playing field is a little more even. However, don't expect the second book for a while. The only reason why I'm putting this up now is because I've had the first nine chapters done for three years and decided to finish the rest in order to help with some writer's block I've got on a few other stories.

1. My New Assignment/Math Teachers Are Evil

PROLOUGE

Just when you think you're done, they yank you right back into mission briefing. At least that's how it seems to be for me. I used to be a shinobi for the Village Hidden in the Leaves, or Konohagakure for all of you die hard Japanese fans. And, at the risk of sounding highly arrogant like a certain bastard I could name, I was a damn good one, maybe even the best. Sure I stumbled upon my victories through my early years due to my sheer unpredictably and being stubborn , but I learned how to really fight the best way a person in my profession could, through war.

Once our fourth equivalent of the World Wars finished I kept climbing the ranks as I was called on to handle missions that no one else would be expected to survive from if they went on them on their own. You know those kinds of missions right? They're the kind of mission where you're fighting a mini war and it's seems to be you against the world, or at least a whole minor country's worth of enemy nin. Good thing I'm pretty much a one man army myself. But while there were those kinds of missions, there were also missions where I had to be a little bit more discreet. Now those had been hard.

Eventually I had gotten so good at what I did that I actually managed to achieve my dream and become the Hokage. Of course when that happened, I went from simply killing my enemies to having to restrain myself from killing them whenever I had to deal with the council, but hey, that's life right? Still, you would think that they would have allowed me to have made it mandatory to have ramen for lunch at the academy at least once a week right? I mean compared to some other decrees made by myself and past Hokages they had to choose that one to veto?

But I'm getting off track here. I spent about twenty years on the job before I began training my replacement for the job. Five years later I gladly handed the hat over to the kid and began taking missions again. Everything seemed to go well for the next ten years, but then some idiot decided that allowing multiple villages to have access to giant creatures made out of chakra wasn't a good idea and should instead be kept somewhere more 'safe'. Apparently this guy hadn't read the recent history books because he obviously wasn't around for the Fourth Shinobi War. Any way, long story short, me and a team of Anbu beat this guy and his relatively large group of followers around a bit before I introduced him to my all time favorite jutsu the Rasenshuriken. Yeah, that guy's not making any more speeches any time soon.

After that the Elemental Nations grew relatively quiet with me simply taking on whatever missions I felt like. And then at the ripe old age of ninety eight I kicked the bucket while I was asleep on the night before I was to go take out a relatively large bandit camp. I know, anti-climatic right? Still, at least it wasn't some horrifying death like being decapitated or electrocuted, but come on, dieing in my sleep? Although it probably wouldn't have been so bad if Kurama would have stopped laughing about it for over an hour after the fact.

Now, I know most of you are scratching your heads and going "Wait, if he died, then how does he know this Kurama guy was laughing about how he died?" Well the answer is simple. Kurama happens to be one of those giant creatures of chakra that just so happened to be sealed inside of me. Also there is the fact that the two of us had an encounter with the divine being in charge of making sure the elemental nations and the rest of the universe as we know it isn't completely wiped out all at once with no hope of ever recovering. Said divine being went by the name of Kami, maybe you heard of her.

Any who, Kami sent Kurama on his merry little way after she had a nice chat with the big fur ball but held me back from 'going to a nice little retirement that I had saved up for during my life.' Apparently the world I lived in was part of only one realm and some people who were in the middle of the command ladder of another realm were going to royally screw things up in the future and the person who was in charge of everything there had called in a favor. Said favor was for Kami to supply the soul of a warrior that would be able to knock some sense into everybody that would be reincarnated. Guess who Kami decided to pick for her first choice? And no you don't get a cookie if you get it right.

Kami told me that I had a choice. I could pass on to the afterlife where my mother was waiting for me or I could go to this new realm and live another life. I have to say that I was tempted to just go to the after life but Kami pointed out a few things that really got my attention. The first was that this other realm that I was going to go to was almost completely different from our own so there would literally be a whole new world to discover. The second was that she was willing to allow me to have the same amount of chakra when I was born as when I died, as well as the fact that apparently I'd be gaining some new abilities while I was there. The chance to discover a new world cinched it for me, I was going.

Before I left Kami told me that I'd have twelve years to get used to the new world before the 'people upstairs' would begin making trouble. She also said that I would have new abilities that were water based that I should learn how to use within those twelve years including breathing underwater. (She didn't flat out say I could breath underwater but she did say I wouldn't have any problems fighting in it for long periods of time.) Finally she told me to put my practice with dealing with the council to good use. I had asked her what she meant by that but she simply smiled and said that I would see before everything turned white.

Story Start: I Not So Accidentally Vaporize My Pr-Algebra Teacher

My name is Percy Jackson, although in my previous life I went by Naruto Uzumaki. In this life I'm currently twelve years old and am currently attending Yancy Academy while I wait for whatever mess the big boys upstairs drag me into. Yancy Academy is a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.

Am I a troubled kid?

Well now that depends on which realm's point of view you're asking from doesn't it? After all, most shinobi who reach Jounin rank or higher usually get some pretty weird quirks. Mine had just been sheer mischief and mayhem oriented. Granted, my pranks had toned down quite a bit since graduating from the ninja academy but that doesn't mean I gave them up completely. Still, at least I'm not running around in green spandex shouting about spring times of youth or walking around reading porn in public.

But I'm getting off topic. As you're reading this it is May and I'm currently on a yellow school bus with the rest of my sixth grade class on a field trip to Manhattan to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff. And I'm thinking I should really slap whoever okayed this trip. Twenty eight mental case kids and only two teachers in a building surrounded by very old, very fragile things? Yeah, that's going to turn out well. But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, is leading this trip so hopefully we won't accidentally (or not so accidentally in some cases) burn down the place.

Mr. Brunner is this middle aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He has thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. Most people wouldn't think he'd be cool. But he tells stories and jokes and lets us play games in class. He also has this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, and to make it even cooler, he actually talks about how they were made and used. He is the only teacher that could keep me awake in class since lets face it, I had already learned most of the stuff that the other teachers are trying to teach me almost a century ago.

Anyways I was hoping the trip would be okay, or at the very least one where I wouldn't get in trouble for something that I might or might not have done. Too bad my bad luck of having things go FUBAR during missions at the most inconvenient times seems to have transferred over to this life as well.

You see, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, there was this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. One of the other kids decided it would be fun to mess with one. And then they just had to go blow up the school bus with it. The kid bolted but I was still in the area looking at a statue dedicated to the soldiers who had fought there. The idiot had scared the hell out of me but no one would believe me when I told them that I was nowhere near the cannon when it went off. And before that, at my fourth grade school. We had taken a behind the scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool. While we were on the catwalk the local class bully decided it would be fun to push me into the lever that tipped us all into the pool. But did that guy get any of the blame? Of course not, that would make sense. And that was just those two years. You'd never believe what happened in third grade, never mind second and first.

And for this year I had to put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, who was currently squirming in her seat after I had caught a chunk of a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich in my hand that she had thrown at the back of my best friend Grover's head before I turned around to give her one of those shinobi stares. You know the kind, the one where if you make a single mistake I'll kill you kind?

Grover's an easy target. He's scrawny. He cries when he gets frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he is the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he's crippled. He has a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he has some kind of muscular disease in his legs. He walks funny, like every step hurts him, but don't let that fool you. You should see him run when it's enchilada day in the cafeteria.

Anyway, Nancy Bobofit had began throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair since she knew that I couldn't do anything back to her since I'm already on thin ice with the headmaster who had threatened me with death by in school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip. Apparently my reputation of a trouble maker had preceded me. She threw two chunks before I had enough and caught the next piece and sent her a silent message that I was not amused.

I applied the smallest hints of killing intent just to be sure I got my message across before I turned back around in my seat to face forward again and wiped my sticky hand on the back of the seat in front of me as I said "One of these days I'm going to snap and kill that girl."

"It's okay. I like peanut butter." Grover said obviously trying to calm me down.

I snorted and said "People usually put peanut butter in their mouths Grover. Unless of course they have gum in their hair, which you don't. Seriously though, that girl is annoying."

"Just leave her alone. You know who would get blamed if you two fight." Grover said.

I snorted again and said "Fight? Grover, if she and I were to actually 'fight' as you put it, she wouldn't be able to still go to school since she'd be in a hospital. Of course I would get blamed."

Grover sent me an odd look but I ignored it in exchange for taking my first look at the museum as it came into view.

Since it was his area of expertise Mr. Brunner was leading the tour. He rode up front in his wheelchair. Guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black and orange pottery. Some of the stuff was in such good condition that if I wasn't absolutely sure I was the only chakra user on the face of the earth, I'd think the Romans and Greeks had used preservation seals on their stuff.

He gathered us around a thirteen foot tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a _stele_, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I paid attention since it was pretty interesting while at the same time ignoring everybody around who was talking as if they were at an amusement park instead of a museum. Thankfully one of the skills you learn as a shinobi is how to tune out all of the unnecessary things in your surroundings when you need to focus on important tasks. Although ignoring Mrs. Dodds giving me the evil eye was a little bit harder to ignore.

Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.

From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. But that's okay, since I considered the feeling mutual. I always felt this really bad vibe off of her, like I could still use Kurama's chakra and just feel evil oozing out of her pores. Especially when she would point her crooked finger at me and say "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after school detention for a month.

Apparently I wasn't the only one to think that our math teacher wasn't exactly homo sapient. One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said "You're absolutely right." He had said it in such a way that it made me feel like Grover knew Mrs. Dodds was something much worse than a math teacher with a bad temper. Like Zabuza, Demon of the Mist worst.

Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art and I kept listening even as I raked my eyes over the symbols on the column doing my best to translate them. Then Nancy Bobofit had to snicker out something about the naked guy on the stele and I finally lost all patience with the girl.

Turning around, I said in my best Iruka-sensei voice (Which is almost one hundred percent spot on if I do say so myself.) "Miss Bobofit, maybe you'd like to teach the class?"

The whole group laughed except for Mrs. Dodds whose evil eye began to resemble the look Tobi had given me before I finally sent the murdering bastard to the Shinigami.

Mr. Brunner stopped his story as he said "Mr. Jackson, did you have a comment?"

Turning back around, I shook my head and said "No sir."

Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"

I looked at the carving and said "That's Kronos eating his kids. Kronos was the Titan god. He didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, Kronos ate them, but his wife hid Zeus and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. Which makes absolutely no sense to me how you could mistake the two, but anyway, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his old man into barfing up his brothers and sisters-"

"Eew!" said one of the girls behind me even as Mr. Brunner motioned me to finish.

I shot an annoyed look at the girl before I said "The gods and Titans ended up fighting with the gods winning. Zeus and his fellow gods then cut Kronos into thousands of pieces and threw him into Tartarus."

"Excellent answer Percy. Short, yet descriptive." Mr. Brunner said.

I nodded my thanks before I heard Nancy Bobofit behind me mumble to a friend "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids."

"And why, Mr. Jackson," Mr. Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted." Grover muttered with a smirk.

"Shut up." Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.

At least Nancy got packed. That was another reason why Mr. Brunner is my favorite, he's the only one who ever catches her saying anything wrong. The guy has radar ears.

I thought about his question, and shrugged as I said "As far as Kronos eating his kids, I'm not sure. About all of Greek and Roman mythology in general? There's a lot of reasons why it matters. For instance, I could say that our society is founded heavily on the Greeks and Romans, particularly architecture wise. I mean look at our national symbol, the eagle. That's the symbol of Zeus isn't it?"

"Exactly Mr. Jackson." Mr. Brunner said with a hint of pride in his voice before he said "Now, to expand on what you said about Kronos and his children. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

As the class drifted off with the girls holding their stomachs and the guys pushing each other around and acting like do-fuses, I paused at the entrance to the exhibit to see Mr. Brunner taking a long sad look at the _stele_ like he'd been at this girl's funeral.

Frowning, I said "Mr. Brunner, are you coming?"

His head jerked towards me in the same way that Kakashi-sensei's did whenever he had been caught in his memories and suddenly jerked out of them by someone. Smiling sadly, he made a dismissive motion with his hand and told me to go outside and eat my lunch.

The class gathered on the front steps of the museum where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.

Overhead, a huge storm began to brew, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I frowned as I looked up at the unnatural clouds knowing that things were coming to a head on some level higher than what most people could comprehend and my mission would soon start. The signs were obvious since the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if those clouds were part of a hurricane that was blowing in. It'd just be one more abnormal weather occurrence to add to the list.

One other glaring thing that pointed the storm clouds to something that couldn't be mortal related was the fact that nobody else seemed to notice that we had clouds that might as well have been taken from a pitch black night sky with how dark they were. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse. And it was a pathetic attempt let me tell you, even a civilian back home could have done better. And of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.

Grover and I decided to sit on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. Our line of thinking was that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from THAT school-the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.

Grover and I ate in silence for a while as I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about the apartment the mortal who was my mother in this realm lived, which was just a little ways uptown from where we sat. It was weird having a mom after living a whole lifetime with only a total of twenty minutes with a chakra imprint of my dead mother to get to know her. And it was more than just that weird I have two moms thing. I kept having to keep myself from calling her Kaa-san since that would raise some questions that I would really like to not have to answer.

I saw Mr. Brunner wheel out and park his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He began to eat celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table.

I was about to unwrap the second sandwich I had brought when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends-I guess she had gotten tired of stealing from the tourists- and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap. It seems someone had forgotten what had happened on the bus.

"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.

Now it is important to pause here and say that while I have made amazing progress when it comes to using the new water based skills that this life can use, I've still not totally mastered it yet. That said, when Nancy grinned at me with those hideous teeth two things happened. One, I cocked my eyebrow before I blasted her and her friends with an isolated five second ten percent powered blast of Killer Intent that left them stumbling and their hearts struggling to maintain proper rhythms after temporarily stopping for those five seconds. Two, the water from the fountain reacted to my Killing Intent and about a gallon of it surged out of the fountain soaking Nancy and sending her on her butt.

Nancy blinked once before she yelled "Percy pushed me!" I rolled my eyes wondering at just how oblivious people could be when the girl's shirt was soaked and she thought I had pushed her.

Those thoughts were put on hold as Mrs. Dodds seemed to materialize right next to us and I had to force my body not to react from nearly a century's worth of fighting skills and break her body in half right then and there. Meanwhile some of the kids were whispering about how one of the fountain's pipes seemed to have ruptured and pushed Nancy down.

As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. "Now, honey-"

My eyebrow shot right back up and I said "You can't honestly be blaming me for a ruptured water pipe?"

Mrs. Dodds smiled that sickly sweet smile that all females seem to be able to do, only a hundred times worse as she said "Come with me."

Grover started to say something but I shot him a look that told him to stay quiet for his own safety. He looked down with this look like he had just failed to save the world causing my eyebrow to shoot back up.

"Honey, NOW." Mrs. Dodds said before she turned and began walking towards the museum's entrance.

Nancy Bobofit smirked at me. I gave her a class five shinobi I'll-kill-you-later stare and blasted her with my killing intent again causing her to stumble once again. Then I turned to follow Mrs. Dodds who had somehow already made it to the entrance and was waiting impatiently for me.

My shinobi instincts began going from green levels to yellow as I thought 'How'd she get there so fast?'

When I was halfway up the stairs, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel. I'm not entirely sure why, but that pushed the needle on my gauge from borderline yellow to middle yellow.

I looked back up and Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall and I at first thought that she wanted me to buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. A thought which had me snorting at the improbabilities of THAT happening. But apparently that wasn't the plan.

I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section, which except for us was empty. Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. She was looking at it as if she wanted to pulverize it. As I entered the room and heard the sound I unconsciously slipped into a battle stance that allowed me to move wherever I needed to while still seeming like I didn't plan to fight or flee right at that moment. (And personally I was leaning towards fight. This math teacher was really starting to get on my nerves with always turning a blind eye to obvious things.)

Mrs. Dodds apparently had good senses since as soon as I came in she said "You've been giving us problems honey."

Deciding to play it safe while I still could I said "Yes, ma'am."

She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?" Mrs. Dodds asked as she turned around. My instincts went past borderline red into "Warning: Fight Approaching!" The look in her eyes was beyond mad, it was evil. And all of a sudden that vibe I always felt around her wasn't a vibe anymore, it was a visible aura. My eyes narrowed the slightest bit as I began circulating my chakra through my body faster in preparation for a fight.

Thunder suddenly shook the building as Mrs. Dodds said "We are not fools, Percy Jackson. It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."

My eyes narrowed even further as I slipped just a fraction more into my stance and allowed my chakra to flow just that little bit more freely. All I could think of was that this woman was definitely not what she appeared to be and knew that I wasn't either.

"Well?" She demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said.

"Your time is up." She hissed.

Then the weirdest thing that has happened since I got to this realm happened. It was as if Mrs. Dodds had one of Orochimaru's Curse Seals and she had just activated it straight to level two. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She definitely wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she looked like she was going to enjoy slicing me to ribbons.

I snapped fully into my stance as I flared my chakra causing it to become visible as a thin shell shocking the creature that I now recognized as a Fury and said "Well, I always knew math teachers were evil but this takes the cake." The Fury hissed at me but grew silent as I threw my right arm out and a wind sword formed in the air before I grasped it. The Fury seemed shocked again before she recovered her wits and shot at me.

Now to normal people, a winged hag shooting at them with razor sharp claws would probably terrify them. Me, I was suddenly bored. Here I was expecting some epic fight and for some reason the Fury was only coming at me at Chunin speeds when for some inexplicable reason I expected at least Jounin level and as she got closer I almost lazily ducked under her claw swipe before I sent my wind blade right into where the thing's heart should be.

Mrs. Dodds had exactly half a second for her eyes to widen before she was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.

I suddenly felt a presence behind me and spun around wind sword in guard position only to catch a glimpse of Mr. Brunner's red umbrella as his chair left the area. I frowned but put thoughts of whether or not my Greek teacher was a monster as well behind me and took a look at where our other teacher had been and said "So it begins huh?" Then I left the gallery and headed back outside.

It had started to rain during my little fight with the Fury disguised as a mean old Math teacher. Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

I blinked, but didn't say anything since if there were things that could fool the mind back in the Elemental Nations like Genjutsu was it much of a stretch that there might be something similar here that covered up what just happened inside? Thunder suddenly boomed up in the skies above us and I looked up wondering what was going to happen next now that I had essentially vaporized our Math teacher.


	2. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks Of Death

2. Three Old Ladies Knit The Socks Of Death

When you are a shinobi, you expect for the occasional weird experience to happen at least ten times throughout your life. Having lived a lot longer than most shinobi, I've had the pleasure of witnessing quite a few of those. However having a new math teacher that I had never seen before in my life just get on the bus with no one else acting like she just appeared out of thin air was definitely up there in the top twenty weird events of my life. Whoever had covered up Mrs. Dodds, or whatever her name was, had did some really good work.

The only other one who didn't seem affected by whatever Genjutsu like effects the guys upstairs just used was Grover. He wasn't obvious about it, but on the way back I heard him muttering something about Mrs. Dodds and Kindly Ones. I decided to act like I hadn't heard him even as I filed the interesting bit that like me Grover wasn't exactly what he seemed to be in the back of my mind.

The freak weather continued, and if anything, got worse. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.

None of this helped me keep my cool when it came to Nancy Bobofit and her friends. Here I was expecting the academy to suddenly be torn apart by some freak weather accident that probably no one else could see and that girl decides to become even more annoying. Unfortunately, all of the other teachers took her side as usual and the headmaster finally had enough and sent my mother a letter telling her that I would not be invited back to the academy next year.

When he had called me into his office to tell me that, I had rolled my eyes and said that I was surprised it had taken him this long considering how all of the teachers seemed to have rose tinted glasses when it came to that girl. He obviously wasn't amused although I did get him to admit that my grades were better than hers. Although that's not hard considering I kept them all in the A's while she barely scraped out a single C- on last semester's report cards. Hey, the classes may have all been boring as hell but there was no way I'd do bad on a test.

Still, I have to admit that I'll miss this place next year. The view of the woods out of my dorm window reminds me of the Village in my previous life and I'd definitely miss Grover, who'd been a good friend. Sure others would call him strange but let's face it, to a higher ranked shinobi that can be seen as a compliment. I was worried how he'd survive next year without me though. I'd definitely miss Latin class, that's for sure.

Speaking of which, as exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I found I could actually study for. All of the other subjects were so far beneath my level I felt like the exams would feel like I was helping a son or daughter with their homework instead of taking a test that would determine my end of the year standings.

The evening before the exams were to start, I decided to take a break from _Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology_ and practice using sage mode in this world before my brain shut down from forced studying overload. While I could still go into sage mode easily enough considering the fact that I was on a completely different planet than where I learned the art, I still practiced it every once in a while when I was by myself since it felt so different than how if felt back home. There the world had seemed so full of life, here it felt like the world had some kind of weight on its chest. Not something that would make it hard to breath but definitely noticeable none the less.

As I allowed myself to synch with the environment around me and began to draw in natural energy the pupils of my green eyes went bar shaped and red pigment surrounded the sides of my eyes. I took in a deep breath before I let it out. As I exhaled my senses expanded out of my dorm room until I could sense every living thing on the campus. Suddenly I sensed something strange and I frowned before I focused on Mr. Brunner's office where there were two presences that were definitely NOT human. My eyes snapped open and I got up from where I had been sitting cross legged on the floor. If there were more monsters in the school I needed to take care of them before they could harm anybody.

I walked over to my room's door making sure that no one was around to see my unusual features before I slipped out into the hall and made my way downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.

I was three steps from the doorway with a plan to take out the lights in the office and take the two monsters out before they knew what hit them when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "…worried about Percy, sir."

I froze as that little bit about Grover not being what he appeared to be was suddenly back in the front of my mind while at the same time I was remembering how Mr. Brunner had been awfully close to the area where I had been fighting that Fury. What I couldn't get though was that I had gone sage mode at least four times before while I was at Yancy and every time I did those two had felt human. What the hell was going on?

"…alone this summer." Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the _school!_ Now that we know for sure, and _they_ know too-"

"We would only make matters worse by rushing him." Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."

I gave a mental snort at that. I was one hundred and ten years old. How much more mature did they need me to be?

"But we may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-"

"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."

"But sir, he _saw_ her. You said he even made a sword out of wind and took her out with seemingly no problem. Doesn't that mean…"

"I'm not sure what it means. I had been sure that I was right about who his father was and that he was ignorant of who he really was but then he uses the wind to stab her right through the heart like a professional." Mr. Brunner's voice had a frustrated edge to it, like he still couldn't believe what he had seen back at the museum. "And the Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him that it was his imagination."

I mentally snorted again. Mist huh? Well at least I now knew what they had used to make everyone forget about Mrs. Dodds but it seemed like it didn't affect me.

"Sir, I…I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."

"You haven't failed Grover." Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-"

My head cocked to the side as I fought hard to keep myself from laughing out loud at the prospect of needing protection just to maintain the ability to breath. I had fought in the Fourth Shinobi War against a man who wanted to make everyone his slaves by casting the ultimate Genjutsu on the moon when I was sixteen, what was the occasional monster now and then compared to that? Still mentally chuckling to myself I slipped back down the hallway heading back to my dorm room. I had heard enough to know that those two weren't a threat to everybody else and seemed to be on my side even if they weren't going to tell me anytime soon.

Once I was back in my dorm room I allowed my sage mode to fade away and picked my Latin book up from the floor where I had placed it beside me when I started meditating. Hopping over my bed and turning in the air to land on my back, I cracked the book open to where I had been reading and soon lost myself to stories about Chiron and Charon.

About ten minutes later Grover slipped into the dorm room and grabbed his Latin exam notes before he flopped on his bed. I watched him out of the corner of my eye but otherwise didn't comment on where he had been. We both called it a night an hour later and I fell asleep dreaming of a village nestled next to a large mountain that had seven faces carved on it and surrounded by a forest.

The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three hour Latin exam, translations of Greek and Roman symbols still swimming through my head, Mr. Brunner called me back inside. For a moment I was worried that he had used those radar ears of his last night and somehow knew that someone had been outside his door last night and he suspected me. Fortunately that didn't seem to be the problem.

"Percy," he said "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's…It's for the best."

My eyebrow shot up at that. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. From the corner of my eye I saw Nancy Bobofit smirk at me and make sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips. I simply gave her the finger as I kept my gaze on Mr. Brunner which made little miss Nancy stutter and the other kids try to keep their laughter down.

Mr. Brunner decided to ignore the interaction including the possible innuendo that was in there as he said "I mean, this isn't the right place for you. You were meant to be somewhere different. Somewhere greater than this."

My eyebrow remained raised as I said "Thanks sir, if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready for my next exam. Although for what it's worth, you were an awesome teacher." I was out the door before he could open his mouth to respond.

On the last day of term, I packed my clothes into my suitcase and chuckled as I remembered how Sakura would always get on my case for just shoving clothes into a pack when we would take missions together. Meanwhile, the other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like I supposedly was, but they were _rich_ juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. Meanwhile, I was the supposed nobody from a family of nobodies. I didn't care though, I'd had enough adventures in my previous life to last me halfway through this one. A lot better ones than just going for a walk in a foreign country too.

They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them that I was going back into the city with plans to finally make a full map of all of the tunnels underneath it. I had managed to get the subway system including all of the maintenance sections done last year but the sewage lines were a bit harder considering I couldn't exactly walk through those. What I didn't tell them was that while me and a bunch of clones were going to be going over city plans, another clone was going to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions. I had a bank account where I was storing up money for if the shit really hit the fan and I needed to have a way to access money if I had to fund a small war.

"Oh." one of the guys said. "That's cool."

And then they went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed causing me to shake my head at them.

I didn't have to have an awkward moment saying goodbye to Grover who I suspected would have followed me since he booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had. However, once we were on the bus, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It was just one more time that I could say that he acted nervous and fidgety since we left Yancy for whatever reason, and now I knew that he was on the lookout for something.

I was planning on not saying something about it but I finally couldn't take anymore of it. His constant head swiveling to try and see everything at once was worse than a second year academy student's observation abilities. Putting up a small hearing disruption Genjutsu to prevent ease droppers that I could now perform thanks to the fact that I no longer had Kurama messing with my chakra control, I said "You keep swiveling your head around like an owl and your target is going to know that you're on to them."

Grover jumped and said "Wha-what do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes and said "Please Grover, even an academy student can keep better track of his surroundings without being so obvious about it. Just chill, I don't think that there are any Kindly Ones here."

Grover's mouth dropped an inch before he hissed "Where did you hear that term?"

I unconsciously cracked my neck to release some of the stress that came with looking down at paper and pencil for almost a full week straight and said "You and Mr. Brunner need to take better precautions when you're talking. Like not have a meeting where his office lights would be the only ones on during the middle of the night. Seriously though, you guys should have told me that you were here to protect me. I could have saved you a lot of time by telling you that I don't need protection from something that's about ten times slower than I am. If the rest of the monsters are going to be like that then I don't think they're going to be much of a challenge."

Grover's eye twitched as he said "How much of that meeting did you hear?"

"Oh, not much. Just enough to be sure you guys weren't going to go killing everyone in the school when I sensed that you two weren't human. By the way, what's the summer solstice deadline?"

He winced. "Look Percy, I, wait a minute, what do you mean when you sensed that we weren't human?"

I gave him a flat look and said "You're trying to change the topic Grover. But to answer your question, just as its obvious to me now that you're not human, I've got a few things that separates me from the masses as well. Now what is this deadline?"

Grover flinched and said "It doesn't really concern you. You should forget even hearing about it."

"Uh-huh." I said making it clear that I didn't believe him.

Grover squirmed in his seat before he fished out a grubby business card from his shirt pocket. Handing it to me he said "Listen, you should take this in case you need me this summer."

I took the card and my eyebrow rose as I read the fancy script that said Grover Underwood, Keeper on one side and Half-Blood Hill, Long Island, New York, (800)009-0009 on the other. Looking back at Grover I said "Half-blood?"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um… summer address."

My eyebrow stayed raised as I said "You really need to learn how to lie better Grover."

His ears turned pink but before he could say anything there was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoked poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else and I took a good look at my surroundings.

We were on a stretch of country road-no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand. The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.

I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric blue yarn.

All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. And all three were staring at me. The hairs on the back of my neck began to rise as did the meter on my shinobi senses. Those ladies weren't human, I was sure of it. And the way they were sitting there sewing like that, it reminded me of-

I looked over at Grover to see if he noticed them and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching. That instantly put my body on full alert as it only seemed to confirm my thoughts.

"Grover." I said lowly getting ready for anything including a flock of Furies dive bombing us from the sky.

"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors-gold and silver, long bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath and I strained my senses to pick up any other presences nearby that could be even the slightest bit hostile.

Grover opened his mouth to say something but paled even further if that was possible when the middle one cut the yarn. I swear I could hear that _snip_ across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric blue socks, leaving a tiny part of my mind wondering just who they were for. The rest of my mind was wondering just what the hell was going to be coming after us soon. Grover meanwhile looked like he was about to faint from fear as his eyes kept cutting from me to the three old ladies.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and then roared back to life causing the passengers to cheer.

"Darn right!" The driver yelled as he slapped the bus with his hat before he said "Everybody back on board!"

We all filed back to our seats and the bus got back on the highway. As we did, I noticed Grover start shivering and his teeth began to chatter. Frowning, I put my Genjutsu back up and said in a calm voice "Grover."

His eyes snapped over to look at me and I could see them dilating from fear. I frowned at him and said "I can understand that you're scared and I have a pretty darn good idea why, but you need to calm down before you have a heart attack. And don't go telling me that it's not possible to stop your heart with just fear. I've seen it happen before. Heck, I've even made people do it before. So calm down already, if anything comes at us I'll take care of it."

Grover stared at me for a moment before he said "Percy, how can we be calm, they were looking _right_ at _you _when they cut the cord. Wait, what do you mean you've made people's hearts stop by fear alone?"

I gave a grin that Anko would have been proud of that caused Grover to lean away from me as I said "Let's just say this isn't my first time on this ride and leave it at that."

Grover stared at me before he closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself but seemed to be something much older. I rose my eyebrow as I heard him begin muttering about how his charge wasn't making any sense and why did they all have to die before they got past sixth grade. Shaking my head, I let the Genjutsu around us drop and turned to look out the window to make sure no monsters were coming for us.


	3. Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants

3. Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants

The rest of the trip saw Grover constantly looking at me like I was a dead man and muttering about "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?" It was starting to annoy me because while I had just seen my 'life' be cut short by the three fates I wasn't too worried. I mean, if Shion had dreamed that I would die by being pierced by a bunch of tails from a demon in hydra form and I managed to live for eighty two more years before falling asleep and not waking up, what was a bunch of old ladies simply cutting a piece of yarn? That may have sounded like I felt like I was invincible, but the truth is I have a way of denying my fate in such a way it usually leaves people with their jaws hanging after the fact.

That said, I was still spreading my senses out as far as I could in the hopes that I could detect whatever was coming for us before it got too close. It didn't pay to be confident about your ability to stay alive in sticky situations only to get killed in a surprise attack when the other guy sneaks up on you and sticks a kunai into your back without you ever even knowing he was there.

When the bus reached the bus terminal, me and Grover got off and I melted into the crowd pulling Grover behind me as I looked for an area where we would have some privacy. I found it in the nearby smoking area where it was walled off for both privacy and to keep the smoke away from other people. Thankfully it wasn't occupied and I pushed Grover into the enclave while making sure we weren't being watched.

I stepped into the enclave to the sight of Grover nibbling on a soda can that had been left behind and rose my eyebrow at the sight of a supposed human nervously chewing on a piece of aluminum. Grover saw me and blushed before he spat out the can and said "What? I eat when I get nervous."

I shook my head not wanting to know and walked over to one of the vending machines that was hanging back in the corner and quickly bought a 3 Musketeers which I tossed at him before I walked over to one of the benches and sat down. As I did, I said "Grover?"

"Hm?" Grover asked around the mouthful of chocolate and marshmallow that was now in his mouth.

"These creatures that you and Mr. Brunner are expecting to come after me, how would they find me?"

Grover nervously swallowed the candy bar and said "Uh, by smell. You smell different than most people so they'll use that to find you."

"I see. Is there any chance that they could find my mother by confusing her scent with mine?" I asked, knowing that if the monsters were able to track down my mother by confusing her for me due to similar scents than I would have to move fast to make sure she was safe. A small part of me whispered if she was still even alive but I crushed it under a boulder of reason that said that if anything had happened to her while I was at school I would have been contacted.

Grover shook his head and said "It's possible that some of your scent may rub off on her but you've been gone from home for too long for that to be much of a probability."

I nodded before I stood up and said "Well if there is even the slightest chance that they can find her than I need to get back home quick and make sure she's safe. And since it's me they're after, we should probably split up here."

Grover's eyes went wide as he said "But I'm supposed to protect you! How am I going to do that if we split up?"

I smiled and said "It'd be more dangerous for you to be near me now Grover. But don't worry, I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Stay safe okay?" Before Grover could respond, I made a ram hand sign and disappeared in a swirl of leaves shocking Grover who caught one of the leaves and wondered just who I was. Meanwhile I reappeared on the roof of our apartment in another whirlwind of leaves and headed down thinking about what I should tell my mother if I had to take drastic action to keep her safe.

A word about my mother from this world before you meet her. Her name is Sally Jackson, and in my opinion, is one of the best people you could find in this realm which just proves the theory that most people have that the best people have the worst of luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative writing program. Then her uncle got cancer and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.

The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad from this realm.

I don't have any memories of him, but I know for a fact that he must have a strong affinity to water since my mother always compared him to the ocean when she talked about him and my new water manipulation skills had to come from somewhere. Or rather, I should say when I finally got her to talk about him. She didn't talk about him much though because _it_ makes her sad. She has no pictures.

See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey and he never came back. Lost at sea, she told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.

She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I know all of the situations I kept finding myself in at school was hard on her.

Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world class jerk. When he first came into our lives I nick named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, I know I should be above name calling by now, but it's the truth. The guy reeks like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.

It's suffice to say me and Smelly Gabe don't get along. And unfortunately our interactions probably weren't doing mom any favors. He tries to intimidate me and I wind up nearly beating him to a pulp. That intimidates him for a little bit, but I guess he has memory problems because every time I come home from school for the summer he tries it again. Take what happened as soon as I walked through the door as an example.

I walked into our little apartment, hoping mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN, chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.

Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."

My eyes narrowed as I said "Don't sound so disappointed. Where's mom?" I absentmindedly noticed that he had put on weight. He looked like a tusk-less walrus in thrift store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.

Smelly Gabe looked up and his own eyes narrowed as he said "Watch your tone boy. And for your information, she's at work."

"Or you'll do what big boy, spank me?" I asked while I smirked. The one time Gabe actually tried that I had him on the floor with his arm bent behind him less than a pound's weight of pressure away from breaking. Gabe's poker buddies, Eddie our superintendent and two other guys I never bothered learning the name of both looked up from their cards. Meanwhile I resolved to myself to go sage as soon as I had some privacy and locate my mom before anything could happen to her.

Gabe scowled as he obviously remembered the incident before he grunted and said "Got any cash?"

I began walking to my room as I said "Yeah, but you can't have it. If you can't keep what money you earn and actually use it for something useful than why should I give you mine?"

Gabe actually growled as he said "Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight, don't you think boy?"

"True, but then again, you don't exactly pull your own weight around here now do you? When was the last time you actually worked at your job?" I said as I continued walking.

Gabe manages the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stays home most of the time. I don't know why he hasn't been fired yet. He just keeps collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous and on beer of course. Always beer. He keeps expecting me to provide for his gambling funds, and I keep shooting him down. The guy never learns.

Gabe stood up and grabbed my arm as I passed him, tight. Growling, he said "You'll give me the proper respect I deserve boy." Eddie looked like he wanted to intervene but wasn't sure if he should. Meanwhile Gabe's other two buddies passed gas at the same time.

I looked down at the hand that was on my arm before I looked back up at Gabe's face and said "I would have thought you would have learned by now _Gabe_, that you really shouldn't touch me like that." The next instant, the hand on my free arm was around his wrist and applying just enough pressure for the guy to reflexively let go. Not satisfied with just that, I sent a palm thrust into his gut getting a satisfying "Oomph" out of him as he fell back into his seat.

Gabe stared at me with rage in his eyes but I was beyond caring. I had a bunch of monsters that could be tracking me down right at this moment and this walrus in cheap clothing was really ticking me off. So when he began to get back up to try and hit me, I glared at him while I blasted him with twenty percent of my killing intent which made him literally wet himself as his eyes widened in a type of fear that he couldn't explain.

I leaned in so that there was only a foot between our faces and said in my Hokage voice "Now you listen to me. I don't care if mom did marry you. If you _ever_ try to touch me like that again, I'll send you to the permanent ward of the hospital, am I clear?"

I upped my killing intent another two percent at the end showing I was dead serious and he swallowed before nodding. I dropped my killing intent back to zero as I headed to my room once again and closed the door in a firm manner that while not quite slamming the door, did get my point across.

Once in my room which was Gabe's 'study' while I was away, I noticed that he had once again spread his disease of being a complete slob into this room as well. The thought of Gabe actually studying anything other than old car magazines made me snort before I made three clones who quickly got to work literally throwing everything that was Gabe's into a big pile in a corner of the room. Meanwhile, I found a spot that didn't have old cigar butts or beer cans on the floor and began gathering the necessary natural chakra to enter sage mode.

As soon as I felt my senses get an exponential boost I sent them out looking for a familiar presence. I sighed in relief as I felt that presence entering the building. Knowing that my mother would be here soon, I switched to trying to find any presences that didn't seem human. I didn't sense anything in range so I let the sage mode go with another sigh before I helped my clones throw the last of the stuff in the corner and dismissed them. The smoke from the clones being dispersed hadn't been gone for more than a couple of minutes before I heard my mother's voice.

"Percy?" I looked back from where I was looking out the window and saw the door open. I suddenly felt all of the tension leave my body and I smiled. A trait both of my mothers shared in common was making me feel good just by me being near their presences. Sally Jackson was most definitely a person who you could only find maybe once in a lifetime. Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light and her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but you would never think of her as old. And when she looks at you, it's like she's seeing all the good things about you, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even to me or Gabe.

"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!" Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things I'd come to love in this world when it came to sweets: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of 'free samples' the way she always did when I came home.

I rose an eyebrow and grinned as I said "You expected me to shrink?"

She smiled and led me to the edge of the bed. She allowed me to attack a blueberry sour string as she ran her hand through my hair. I leaned into the touch always enjoying when she did that since I never got the chance to experience it with Kushina. When I finished with the sour string she demanded that I tell her everything that I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled although she was proud of how I had once again managed to get straight A's all throughout the year including in Latin class. What she wanted to talk about now was if I was alright or not.

I smiled as I told her that I was fine even as I thanked Kami for the hundredth time for choosing me to come here and myself for agreeing to it. Growing up I never had a mother worry over me like this. The only one who came close was Tsunade but it wasn't the same. Oh sure, there were Ayame and Shizune as well, but they were more like sisters than mothers to me. And having an actual mother who cared about you more than anything else was probably one of the greatest things in my life. Sometimes I could only wonder why some kids didn't truly enjoy the time they spent with their mothers. I know that if I had lived this life first with her and then had to live my first life without a mother afterwards I'd probably go insane.

I was brought out of those thoughts by Gabe who yelled "Hey, Sally-how about some bean dip, huh?"

I gritted my teeth as the urge to shove a rasengan right up that guy's ass made its presence known for the thousandth time since I met the guy. Sally Jackson was the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire who actually cared about her, not to some jerk like Gabe.

For her sake, I put in as much of an upbeat tone into my year at Yancy as I could without telling a lie. I told her that I had actually managed to get through the whole school year without something blowing up and me getting blamed for it. I'd made a new friend, and I'd loved Latin class. And really, the fights hadn't been as bad as the Headmaster said. The teachers just had rose tinted glasses when it came to some of the other students.

"Well that's good." My mom said with a smile once I was finished. "Did you go on any interesting field trips while you were there?"

Thanks to my previous life as a shinobi I didn't give away my true thoughts as I said "Yeah, we went to the Metropolitan Museum and looked at their Greek and Roman exhibits." 'And I turned a Fury who was posing as our Math teacher into a shower of sand while I was there.'

"That's nice. By the way, I have a surprise for you, we're going to the beach." She said.

I couldn't help myself, I grinned like the blond dead last I had been at the academy as I said "Montauk?" Meanwhile on the inside I was thinking that this was perfect since I could protect mom a whole lot better on that beach than I could here since I wouldn't have to worry about collateral damage out there .

"Three nights-same cabin."

"When?"

She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."

Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"

I wanted to punch him. Here he was acting like she was his slave when he could just go into the refrigerator and get some of the stuff instead of coming to my room. I knew that would make mom mad though. Still, I had officially reached the end of my rope so instead I gritted my teeth and let loose with my killing intent and knocked the fat slob unconscious. Gabe's eyes suddenly rolled into the back of his head and he fell backward into the hall landing with a solid sounding thump.

My mom's eyes grew wide from surprise and she began staring between me and Gabe. I couldn't really blame her since I had never used killing intent around her. She finally settled on looking at me with an unidentifiable look in her eyes.

"Percy? Did you just knock Gabe out?"

I shifted my gaze to mom and smiled as I said "Gabe should really lose some weight don't you think? All this summer heat isn't good for overweight guys." I leaned in and kissed her cheek before I said "I'll go pack the car. You go ahead and get changed. We can leave a note for him when he wakes up."

She started to say something but I closed her mouth with my pointer finger before I grabbed my suitcase that I hadn't unpacked yet and began pulling it into the hallway. Meanwhile, Eddie had come to see what the weird sound was and was staring at Gabe with a confused look as he muttered to himself "He doesn't look dead."

"Oh he's not. His body just couldn't handle the heat and so he lost consciousness. I'd put him under a fan and damp cloth if I were you." I said as I walked into the master room and grabbed mom's bags as well before I walked out and to the apartment door. As I passed my room I saw that mom was still staring with that confused look causing me to shake my head and knock on the door frame to snap her out of it. She jumped before she looked at me and said "Percy, what-"

"We can talk at the beach mom." I said before I continued out of the apartment down to the car.

Ten minutes later we were out on the road and I reclined into my seat even as I made sure that I could still sense anything that came even remotely close to unfriendly that came near us. As mom drove she kept sending glances my way but otherwise kept all of her attention on the road.

After half an hour of the awkward silence, I sighed and said "What is it mom?"

Sally gave me another glance and she seemed to hesitate before she said "Tell me the truth Percy. Did you make Gabe faint?"

I smirked and said "Yeah. I've been wanting to do that for years. Should have knocked the seiuchi out when I first met him."

Mom frowned as she said "Seiuchi? And that's not very nice Percy."

"It means walrus in Japanese. And let's face it mom, that guy deserves it."

"Regardless, you shouldn't have done that Percy. You're going to have to do some serious apologizing when we get back."

"If he even remembers the incident." I said.

Mom sighed before she seemed to choose another topic and said "You've said you've wanted to do that for a while. Can you do other things besides knock people out without touching them?"

I could hear both curiosity and a trace of expectation in her voice, like she already had an idea and just wanted confirmation and specifics.

I bit my lip as I debated with myself what I should tell her. On one hand, I had just confirmed that I wasn't exactly normal. On the other hand, I wasn't ready to tell my mom that I was a hundred and ten year old shinobi who could most likely completely level New York city within twenty four hours. But then again I had a bunch of ancient Greek monsters after me and my mom deserved to know about that even if I planned on protecting her so well that the creeps wouldn't get within a square mile of her if I could help it.

Finally, I sighed as I said "Mom, I'm not exactly normal." Turning my head away from her so that I wouldn't have to see her expression I said "I can also manipulate water when it's around me."

I could feel her frowning before she said "Percy. It doesn't matter to me if you are normal or not. You're still my son. You know you could have told me about this."

"Could I? Face it mom, me being able to knock anybody out without touching them and being able to make water do whatever I want it to isn't exactly something that is supposed to be possible in the real world. It's more like something out of a comic book." I said. I sensed that she knew something about what I could do and why when it came to manipulating water and I was hoping I could get her to tell me about it. At the very least she could probably confirm my crazy suspicions of who my father actually was. Although I wasn't looking forward to that particular meeting if I was right about one of those theories.

"Abilities that seem unnatural are not as uncommon as you might think." Mom said softly and I turned my head as my eyebrow rose. I was about to ask her what _that_ meant since in this world there were absolutely no other chakra users here. (Kami had been quite clear on that.) However, something told me that this conversation was over and I looked back forward as our car continued down the interstate.

Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in if you weren't covered in polar bear fur. I still loved the place.

We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.

As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.

We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work. I guess I should explain the blue food.

See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, she went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This-along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano- was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak.

Now that mom knew of at least my ability to manipulate water, I was free to practice with it out in the open around her instead of having to sneak out at night like I used to do. I summoned a stream of sea water from the ocean that formed a swirling ring around us before I sent it over a flock of seagulls who scattered squawking at the water which caused my mom to laugh even as she told me to be nice to the birds. It felt nice being able to make her laugh like that by using my water manipulation skills and a not so small part of me wondered what she would think of my shinobi skills.

When it got dark we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.

It was an hour after she had finished talking and we were just watching the camp fire when she sighed and said "Percy, we need to talk about where you're going to go this summer."

I turned my eyes toward her and said "What do you mean? I'm staying with you right?"

"Oh Percy, I wish you could. But with your abilities coming through you can no longer stay with us for the summer. Your father wanted me to send you somewhere but I had hoped that I could keep you close to me for a while longer. They had told me that was a mistake. But I couldn't bare the thought of sending you to where your father wanted to send you. It could have meant I never saw you again. This is the only way now to keep you safe."

I frowned since the last time I was sent away to be kept safe I ended up having to break through the Leaf Village's barrier team with Bee in order to help fight a war. I looked into the fire and said "Where did dad want me to go? Some kind of special school?"

"Not a school," She said softly. "A summer camp."

My eyes narrowed as I took out the card Grover gave me and said "This wouldn't happen to be the place would it?"

My mom took the card and her eyes widened as she saw the name of the camp on the card. Looking up at me she asked "Percy, where did you get this?"

I shrugged as I took the card back and said "Friend of mine gave it to me. Told me to come visit him if I needed anything this summer. I guess I'll be meeting up with Grover after all."

Mom just stared at me before she turned to the fire with a look of extremely deep thought on her face.

That night as I slept while a perimeter of clones kept watch I had a vivid dream. It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle's wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.

I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, _No!_

I woke up with a start. Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight that revealed the nearby clones that were standing on the water, and twenty foot waves that pounded into the dunes like artillery that the clones were using their water manipulation skills to form holes in before they crashed into them. With the next thunderclap, mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said "Hurricane."

I knew that that was both crazy and wrong. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. And this was no normal hurricane either. This seemed to be a class six at least. Before I could say something along those lines, one of my perimeter clones dispelled and I stiffened as the memory of hearing a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made itself known over the storm and I felt my hair stand on end. And then a second clone dispelled and I began cursing in rapid Japanese drawing mom's attention to me as I bolted out of bed and began getting dressed.

"Percy? What is it?" Mom asked obviously deciding to ask how I knew so many Japanese words that were obviously swear words for later.

I sent a mental command to the rest of my clones to dispel as I went to the cabin's entrance and said "We've got unexpected company coming. Both friendly and unfriendly." My mother opened her mouth to ask me what I was talking about, but I was already outside, shielding my eyes from the storm as I saw a form running towards the cabin. Mom was dressed and by my side by the time the figure could be properly seen and she turned to me with a look of terror on her face.

"Percy, what happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"

She had to shout to be heard over the rain but even then I didn't pay attention since I was too busy thinking 'Well that explains a few things.'

The figure finally stopped next to us panting. It was Grover, but not exactly the Grover I was used to. Or at least the legs weren't the same. Instead of human legs, he had goat legs. Grover was a Satyr.

"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that it'd be safer for you if we split up. Remember?" I said in a voice that was at the same time both conversational and the voice of a military commander.

Mom and Grover both stared at me before that bellowing sound came again from the same direction that Grover came.

"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" Grover yelled. "It's right behind me!"

I absentmindedly noticed that my best friend just cursed in Greek and I still knew exactly what he said. My Mom grew pale as she said "Percy Jackson, you tell me what is going on right this instant!"

I cracked my knuckles and neck as I said "Long story short, we encountered the Three Fates on the way home while they did their needle work. They snipped their cord while looking at me so I thought it best to split up from Grover to keep him safe. I was planning on taking you somewhere isolated to do the same when you said we were coming here. And now we apparently have company coming."

Mom's face grew extremely pale before she said "Get to the car. Both of you. _Go!_" She then turned and bolted back to the cabin to presumably grab her keys while Grover wasted no time running for Gabe's '78 Camaro. But I noticed he wasn't running exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly a small part of my mind realized why his story about a muscular disorder now made sense. I understood now how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.

I was pulled from those thoughts by another bellow causing me to look back towards where I knew our uninvited guest was coming. I briefly considered leaving the cabin by foot and going after the beast so that way mom and Grover could escape. But then my more rational side said that there could be more than one of those things out there and a shadow clone might not cut it. I turned around and bolted to the car using every ounce of my shinobi speed and slid in just as mom got in on the driver side and we took off like we had the hounds of hell after us. Which we kind of did.


	4. I Channel My Inner Matador

4. I Channel My Inner Matador

We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro and rain lashed the wind-shield. I don't know how mom could see anything since I could barely see through the rain, but she kept her foot on the gas.

I heard the weird bellowing noise behind us and saw both Grover and mom flinch. Deciding that now would be a good idea to come completely clean, I said "Mom, I wasn't being completely honest with you about my skills when I told you I could manipulate water." Mom sent me a brief look of confusion but continued focusing on the road as I continued. "I'm pretty sure you won't believe me, but the truth is I'm actually a one hundred and ten year old shinobi that was brought here to be reincarnated by the person in charge of my realm."

Mom's eyes widened as she looked at me and said "W-what?"

I looked at her and she unconsciously flinched. My eyes had gone from the green eyes of her son to the sapphire blue eyes of a Hokage who would put everything on the line for his village. I rose my right hand palm up until it was level with the steering wheel and a rasengan spiraled into existence. My mom stared at the sphere and I took the wheel in my left hand to make sure we wouldn't go off the road. In the back seat, Grover's jaw dropped to the ground as I said "I'm a reincarnated ninja from a realm where we can use an energy called chakra with nearly a century's worth of fighting experience including being part of a war. When I died, Kami, the godess in charge of my realm chose me to come here as a favor to the person in charge of this realm. So don't worry, whatever is coming after us, I'll handle it."

My mom gave me another look. It was so full of confusion and fear that I felt like that time I had to lead a Genin team out of enemy territory when they had been cut off during a mission. My rasengan faded out of existence as I said "We are going to get out of this. I'll deal with whatever comes our way but I need you to be as levelheaded as possible. Okay? I promise I'll explain everything once this is over."

Mom nodded and focused back on the road and I let go of the steering wheel and looked back at Grover who was still staring at me. When he saw me looking at him, he said "You were reincarnated?"

I smiled and said "Yup. Explains a few things doesn't it?"

His stare turned incredulous as he said "How can you joke around at a time like this? We have that _thing_ right on our tails and you're acting like we're just going for a pleasant ride to the beach!"

"Comes with experience. But speaking of what's after us. Do you know what it is? It sounds like it might be some kind of animal." I said in a calm voice.

Grover shook his head and said "I just smelled a strong monster that was following me. I didn't actually stay in one spot long enough to see what it was."

I nodded but before I could say anything else, there was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling _boom!_, and our car exploded. I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. I peeled my forehead off the dashboard and said "Anyone get the name of that Akimichi?"

"Percy!" my mom shouted causing me to instantly snap into focus. The car hadn't actually exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in. I looked at the front of the car where a large hole with charred edges was blown straight through the hood right in front of the windshield where the front right wheel should have been.

Lightning, that was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. It seems Zeus had some pretty good aim for a guy who was way up in the sky. That's what I thought anyway since there is no way normal lightning could do something like that and leave the rest of the car relatively intact. The hole looked like the result of Kakashi punching straight through the car with his Chidori.

I looked to the back seat and saw a big motionless lump. I cursed as I saw that Grover was slumped over with a lump the size of an egg on his head and blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I quickly reached over and checked his pulse before I breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive. Battered and bruised maybe, but alive.

"Percy," my mother said "we have to…" Her voice faltered as she caught sight of something behind us.

I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud spattered windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. I saw something on his head and applied chakra to my eyes before I cursed as I saw horns. This was not good.

Turning to my mother who was now pushing against her car door trying to open it I said "Get as close to that door as you can."

She turned her head to ask me why but I was too busy to answer her as I slammed my elbow into my window and shattered it before I climbed out. Once I was out, I leaned into the hole and said "I need you to crouch down so I don't accidentally decapitate you."

Mom stared even as she crouched down and said "Decapitate? Percy what-"

She was cut off as I stood back up and formed a wind sword in my hand and sliced the top of the car off like a hot blade through butter turning the camaro into an insta-convertible before I kicked the roof away from the car with a chakra coated foot causing it to fly away spinning before it landed outside of the ditch about ten feet away from the car. Mom stared at me before I reached over and grabbed her arm causing her to snap back into focus and scramble out of the car. With her out, I reached over and grabbed Grover's unconscious form and hauled him out as well.

Taking a look back to the road showed that the figure was getting awfully close. Mom pulled on my arm and I saw her pointing to a hill in the distance as she shouted "We have to get to the property line! He won't be able to follow you once you're over it."

I looked towards the hill before I looked back at the figure that was coming ever closer. Then I rose my hands in to a cross hand sign and said "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A clone appeared in a poof of smoke shocking my mom, but I ignored her look of shock as I told the clone to grab Grover. I then grabbed mom bridal style ignoring her confused questions and the two of us shot towards the hill in a blur of speed that no human in this world could properly keep up with as we pumped chakra into our legs to reach the top of the hill faster.

Me and my clone reached the top of the hill in thirty seconds. Over three hundred yards, one hundred and fifty of those uphill in less than a minute. I set mom down on her feet and turned to my clone as I said "Keep them safe." The clone nodded and I turned around and blazed back down the hill before mom could say anything.

As I shot down the hill I was able to get my first clear look of our chaser as he stared into the wreckage of our car. He was seven feet, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of _Muscle Man_ magazine - bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear-I'm talking bright white Fruit of the Looms- which, if I wasn't running towards him to kill the guy would've looked funny. Except for the fact that the top half of his body was so weird. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.

His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and let's not forget the horns I saw earlier- enormous black and white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.

I recognized this monster. Kind of hard not to considering how 'famous' he is. And Mr. Brunner had told us about him as one of his first stories. I was currently rocketing towards the Minotaur. One of the top ten famous monsters in Greek mythology. I suddenly heard Kiba's voice whining about how I always got the good fights and I smiled at the memory even as I shot my hand out to the side and drew on all of the rain around me to form a katana. I was now twenty feet from the guy who was sniffing at the car obviously trying to see if we were still in it. He stood up and looked about to bellow before I covered the last ten feet in less than a second and jumped up slamming my right foot into the side of his head sending him flying about fifteen feet away from the car in the same direction he came from.

I landed and shook out my foot trying to get the sting out of it. 'Note to self: bull skull is harder than human skull.' I thought before I heard my opponent growl as he got up and stood to his full height again. I smirked as I said "I believe you were looking for me. Well here I am big guy."

The bull-man hybrid snorted at me before he lowered his head pointing those sharp horns at me. The guy let out a loud bellow before he charged towards me. With every step he took he gained speed until he was moving as fast as a freight train by the time he was five feet from me. A small part of me was impressed with how fast he could get so quickly but that part wisely stayed in the back of my head as I prepared myself to counter that speed.

The Minotaur's horns were just one foot away from piercing me when I somersaulted forward and to the left rolling past his right leg even as I swung my katana which went halfway through the guy's lower leg before my momentum ripped it out of the leg. The minotaur roared in pain and turned around to glare at me. Meanwhile I looked at the damage I caused and thought 'Maybe I should have gone with wind instead. Oh well, nothing for it now I guess.'

The minotaur roared again, this time in anger, and charged at me again but at a considerably slower speed this time. As he got closer he raised his arms slightly in order to catch me if I tried that stunt again. So instead once he got closer I jumped up onto his head and pushed off using it for a springboard to shoot up about thirty feet in the air. The Minotaur stumbled but somehow managed to regain his balance. He turned around to roar at me, but I had already turned in midair and dismissed my water blade as I blazed through hand signs before I shouted out "Wind Style: Wind Dragon Jutsu!"

A wind dragon quickly formed in the air above me which roared it's might to the heavens and launched itself at the minotaur who didn't have a chance to move out of the way before the Wind construct slammed into him. The minotaur roared in pain as the dragon punched straight through him leaving a very big hole in his chest. I landed on the ground as the minotaur fell to his knees surprisingly still alive somehow although I was pretty sure he was in no condition to fight anymore.

The rain continued to pour from the heavens as I slowly walked towards the beast. When I got close it tried to weakly swat at me with its hands but I merely swatted them away with my own before I formed a wind blade and said "You made a really big mistake coming after me and my family." I slashed the sword in front of me and the hybrid's head fell off its shoulders as the body crumpled to the floor before both parts burst apart into black particles as if the minotaur was never there but for a single horn that I bent down and picked up. I glanced at it curiously before I turned and began running back to where my mom and the unconscious Grover were.

When I was close to the top, mom ran down the last ten feet and gave me a crushing hug. Pushing me away to arm's length she stared into my eyes and said "Don't ever scare me like that again Percy." She then drew me into a second hug and said "I honestly don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

I frowned and said "You wouldn't have lost me, mom. This wasn't my first fight. Hell, it wasn't even my second. I've been fighting as a shinobi for nearly a century, heck, I've even fought in a war before. I know what I'm doing."

Mom frowned at me and said "So you've said before. Care to explain what exactly you mean by that?"

I took a deep breath and said "It's better if I show you." I went through a chain of hand signs that Ino had taught me before I focused on what I wanted my mother to see and put my pointer finger against her forehead. As soon as my finger touched her forehead, my mom's eyes dilated to the point she almost didn't seem to have irises. Once I saw that I knew that the jutsu had taken hold and that my mother was now seeing some of the key points in my life including my so called 'graduation exam,' the Chunin exams, fighting Nagato, and the war as well as others.

Five minutes later, mom's eyes returned to normal and she blinked before she stared at me and said "I can't believe you painted a national monument in broad daylight without getting caught before you finished."

Me and my clone couldn't help ourselves, we burst out laughing harder than I had ever laughed in this lifetime. Out of all of the events I had shown her, the first thing she talks about was my painting the Hokage monument. My mom smiled before she frowned and said "It must have been hard growing up without parents. I at least knew mine for a short while before they died."

My face went serious as I nodded. I was about to say something when mom's form suddenly went transparent like a hologram causing both of our eyes to widen before she exploded in a shower of yellow light.

I just stood there for about five seconds trying to figure out what happened before my shinobi side quickly made itself known and I went into sage mode in an instant. Not usually the best of ideas, but I had mastered the skill and this was important. The extremely rapid absorption of natural energy caused my eyes to go bar like and the red pigment to surround my eyes but it also gave me slightly webbed feet and a bulge to my nose for a few seconds since I had to balance out the energies properly once I achieved sage mode.

That was done subconsciously though as I expanded my senses out to their furthest extent trying to find mom. After a minute of trying to find her in range and failing, I desperately took on more of the world's natural chakra, taking on so much, one slip of focus would turn me into a toad statue faster than I could even think of expelling the energy. My senses expanded to cover the entire planet and if I wasn't trying to lock onto just one presence I'm sure all of the life signatures I was feeling would have overwhelmed me and I'd have been a nice lawn ornament right then.

Finally, after ten minutes of searching, I sighed with relief when I finally locked onto her presence. It was faint, far fainter than I wanted, but it was still there. Once my relief had finished cementing itself in my mind, I frowned at where I could sense the presence. West from here, on the other side of the continent in fact, and underneath the earth so deep I'd probably need professional deep sea mining equipment just to get anywhere near that deep. Which really only left one place she could be if this had anything to do with Greek mythology.

I expelled the natural chakra from my body and looked at my clone who was tending to Grover's head wound like he had been ever since I left him with orders to watch after him and mom. He looked at me with a panicked look and said "Did you find her?"

"Yeah, but she's apparently in the underworld." I said.

The clone frowned and said "But if you could sense her life presence, then she's not dead. What's she doing there?"

"I don't know, but I plan to find out. First though, we should get Grover some help. We were never medics. There should be some people on the other side of this hill if mom is right. I'll go there. You should probably dispel though since it'd be hard to explain there being two of me."

The clone nodded and dispersed in a cloud of smoke. I walked over to Grover's form and put him on my back piggyback style. I walked to the top of the hill and stood next to the White House sized Christmas tree that stood on the top and looked down into the valley as the rain finally stopped pouring down. There were a number of buildings in the valley with lights on in the biggest house that was about a quarter mile away, which appeared to be four stories tall. With a destination in mind, I pumped chakra into my legs and blazed down the hill leaving a trail through the waist high grass as I rushed towards the lit building.

It only took me about a minute to reach the porch of the house. I jumped the stairs and landed right in front of the front door. I freed my right arm from holding Grover's leg up and knocked on the door twice before I returned the hand back to supporting his legs. Footsteps rushed over to the door and I was suddenly looking at a blond haired girl whose hair was curled like a princess. Behind her, I saw Mr. Brunner's form, which I hate to say didn't surprise me considering the talk I had overheard between him and Grover.

The girl frowned at me before she saw Grover on my back and I was suddenly pulled into the house with the girl slamming the door as soon as I was through the entryway. She pointed to a doorway and began walking to it and I got the unspoken message and followed her. Mr. Brunner meanwhile watched me walk past with an unidentifiable emotion on his face before he turned and followed us.

The room I was led into was a bedroom. I walked over to the bed and placed Grover on it while the girl walked over to the desk and opened a drawer before she pulled out what looked like a first aid kit but one that was a lot more different than the usual kits. As she walked over to where Grover was now laying, I turned around and saw Mr. Brunner in the doorway. I walked over towards him and said "Sir, I need answers and I plan on getting them. Let's start with why I have Greek monsters after me."


	5. I Play Pinochle With A Horse

5. I Play Pinochle With A Horse

The storm that had been doing its best to claim its spot as the worst storm in the history of the world was finally beginning to fade from my shinobi senses as I laid in one of the large branches of the huge tree on top of the hill that marked Camp Half-Blood's boundaries. I was near the top brooding. Yes, that's right, I'd temporarily gone emo like Sasuke, but I had a very good reason for it. Apparently Mr. Brunner wanted to wait until tomorrow to answer my questions, he insisted that I needed to get some sleep. What I needed was answers about why I was being targeted and how my mom suddenly ended up in the underworld. The only thing that he would tell me was that it involved the circumstances of my birth and that I would be told more in the morning.

I knew that if I stayed in the house that I'd probably try and beat the answers out of my Latin teacher, so I left Grover under the blond haired girl's seemingly experienced hands and took off back to the pine tree where I made myself as comfortable as possible while I listened to the last of the storm leave the area.

I stayed up in that tree branch all night staring out across the land as I went over what little facts I had and tried to figure things out for myself. I gave it up for a lost cause when the sun rose and declared to the world that it was now officially Saturday on the Eastern Coast. For all of that pondering, the only thing that I knew for sure was that I had a bunch of Greek monsters after me, which I already knew, and that I was some kind of half blood in this world. I had a very good idea what the nonhuman half was but my mind kept telling me not to put all of my eggs in that particular basket unless I wanted to be thrown for a massive curve ball further down the road.

About ten minutes after the sunrise, I began hearing activity down in the valley. I looked down and saw that people were beginning to leave the cabins that I had seen last night. I watched them mill about for a little while before I turned back to looking at the rest of Long Island.

I stayed up in the tree for another hour before I heard a voice at the bottom of the tree say "You decided to stay in a tree for the night instead of a bed? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were Pan's kid."

I looked down and saw the girl from last night looking up at me from where she stood ten feet from where the lowest branches' reach ended. I had heard her approach but hadn't felt like acknowledging her presence until she spoke. Now that I wasn't dealing with after battle tension and talking with a stubborn Latin teacher, I studied her allowing me to take in more details than just her hair color. She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and looked a whole lot more athletic looking than you would expect a twelve year old girl from this world to look. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what you would think a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds, pretty, but they were intimidating as well, as if she was analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.

I mentally snorted at that thought before shrugging and said "I didn't want to sleep actually. Besides, some of my best thinking is done at nighttime."

The girl hmmed at me and said "Come on, Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."

I stood up on the tree branch I had been lying on and said "So I'm finally getting some answers? About time."

The girl's eyes narrowed at me but they widened when I suddenly leapt out of the tree from where I was about twenty five feet up the tree to past her about fifteen feet down the hill. I landed in a roll and came out running at a speed that was pretty slow for me. Looking over my shoulder, I noticed the girl still standing there staring at me and I said "You coming or not?"

The girl blinked before she rushed to catch up with me. She didn't say anything else on the way back to the large house instead concentrating on maintaining the pace I set which left me secretly pleased since I was going at about the same speed as a third year academy student using chakra in their legs.

Once we reached the porch to the house, the girl took the lead and our pace dropped to a slightly fast walk. The girl was breathing a little heavy but other wise showed no signs that she had just run a quarter mile faster than she probably usually did. Whoever she was, she definitely knew how to move when she needed to and how to keep oxygen in her lungs.

The porch wrapped all the way around the farm house and we followed it to the back of the house. When we reached the back I allowed my gaze to shift to the rest of the valley and began properly memorizing what the place looked like. We were definitely on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, the landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek Architecture- an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena, except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs were starting to play volleyball. Canoes were leaving the shore of a small lake and cutting through the water. Kids in bright orange T-shirts that said something I couldn't quite make out but suspected said the camp's name were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some were setting up to shoot at targets in an archery range while others were riding horses toward a wooded trail, and unless I was seriously misjudging what my eyes were telling me, some of those horses were actually Pegasi.

All of this was taken in in an instant, my mind already filing everything away even as I continued following the girl to the end of the porch, where two men sat across from each other at a card table while Grover was leaning against the porch looking more nervous than a kitten in a room full of Rottweilers. He looked at me and he seemed to flinch as if I reminded him of some terrible fact.

I frowned but before I could ask what was wrong, the girl nudged me and pointed to the man that was facing me and said "That's Mr. D, the camp director so be polite." The man facing me was small but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of cherubs. Only it was more like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park. He wore a tiger pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've given even my ridiculous good luck at gambling a run for its money.

"You already know Grover and Chiron." The girl pointed at the guy whose back was to me. She was pointing at Mr. Brunner.

The Latin teacher turned when the girl had said what was apparently his real name and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.

"Ah good, Percy," He said. "Now we have four for pinochle."

I blinked before I said "No thank you. You could start answering some of my questions though."

Mr. D humphed and said "My, aren't you quite sure of where you stand in this world?"

I looked straight at him and said "I have a pretty good idea, yes"

The man frowned at me. Mr. Brunner frowned at me as well before he offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked back up from the cards he was holding and gave me the briefest of glances with his bloodshot eyes as he heaved a great sigh and said "I suppose I must say it, even to you, welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you now that I've welcomed you."

"Then I ask you not to expect me to be glad to be here. I have someone to track down after all." I said with narrowed eyes even as I subtly shifted away from him since I could tell that he had been hitting the happy juice. If this guy was a stranger to alcohol then I was an Uchiha. The guy gave a halfhearted glare at me before he humphed again and went back to looking at his cards.

"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner asked to break the tension and allowing me to finally know the girl's name. When she came forward, he said "Could you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."

"Sure, Chiron." She said. She glanced at the minotaur horn that hadn't once left my hand during the night and I expected her to say something about it only for her to turn and sprint down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.

I watched her go for a moment before I turned back to Mr. Brunner, or Chiron as he seemed to go by here and said "So I take it the name you gave us at Yancy isn't your real name."

Mr. Brunner nodded and said "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. After all, how many people are there in today's world who are named Chiron?"

I hmmed before I turned to face Mr. D and said "And it's obvious that 'Mr. D' isn't your full name."

The man stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."

I snorted and said "'You don't just go around using them for no reason.' What is this, Eragon?"

Mr. D's eyes narrowed and I swore a purple flame sparked in them for a moment as I felt what felt like an extremely close try at killing intent being directed at me. My own eyes narrowed as I brushed the false killing intent away like it was nothing but a stray leaf on my lap and replied with my own killing intent in a two second burst at ten percent power causing the man's eyes to narrow even further before he looked back down at his cards.

Chiron-Brunner cleared his throat and said "I must say, Percy, I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

My narrowed eyes switched their focus to my Latin teacher as I said "I'm only staying here long enough to get answers sir. And what do you mean by 'house call?'"

Mr. D muttered something about impertinent brats as Chiron squirmed a little from my 'Hokage' eyes and he said "My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to…ah, take a leave of absence."

My eyes narrowed further as I remembered the beginning of the school year when we had another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy before he had been replaced by Mr. Brunner without any explanation. My eyes shifted over to Grover who flinched at seeing my eyes like he expected me to suddenly decapitate him.

I gave a small frown at his reaction before I turned back to Chiron and said "Let me guess. You came to Yancy to make sure I had a solid grounding in Greek history as well as to confirm Grover's assessment for yourself."

Chiron nodded and said "Got it in one. Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. You seemed to already have a good grounding in Latin for a sixth grader but you seemed more oriented to a different language than either English or Greek. It's really quite confusing, but you made it here alive, which is all that matters really since that is always the first test."

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair.

"You _do_ know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.

I took the cards from the table and held them in front of my eyes for a moment before I decided to showboat a little with my wind manipulation skills. I let go of the cards and a sphere of wind surrounded the two incomplete decks of cards before the wind pushed itself between the gaps of the cards and scattered them over the table in a spinning mass of layered paper before they started spinning around in a vortex of cards before the appropriate number of cards shot towards each person stacking on top of one another to form a deck of twenty cards in front of each player.

Grover and Chiron were staring at me with Grover's mouth slowly dropping while Mr. D was looking at me as if he was trying to figure out whether to give me a hug or burn me to ash and then burn me some more for good measure. Picking up my deck, I said "I actually prefer Shogi and other board games to card games, but yes, I do know a thing or two about this game."

Mr. D grunted before he made a bid. As he did, I said "You know, this still doesn't explain why I had two monsters try to kill me. I mean, why now? Why not come after me when I was younger?"

Chiron frowned and said "It's because your smell didn't catch their notice until now. Whatever your mother did to hide you, she did it well."

"Not well enough." I whispered as I remembered her seemingly exploding in a shower of lights.

Mr. D grunted and said "It really is her own fault you know."

My head snapped up as I said "What?" Grover shivered at the tone I used and even Chiron frowned as he looked at me.

Mr. D looked up from his cards and said "You were just thinking about what happened last night I imagine. Or more specifically what happened to your mother according to you. But them trying to keep you close to them is usually how they get killed. Although I suppose its only natural for them to want to keep their young nearby, in the end it is really a stupid instinct."

My eyes narrowed as I said "Tell me Mr. D, have you ever had children before?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes." Mr. D said as if him suddenly saying that mom either dieing or being transported straight to the underworld while still alive was completely her fault didn't bother him in the slightest.

"And yet you still call parents who want to bond with their children fools. Makes me sorry for your kids."

All of the blood in Grover's face instantly drained leaving him a pasty white color. Mr. D studied me coolly before he humphed and went back to his game.

Chiron frowned at the exchange before he said "Yes, well. As I was saying, whatever your mother did was certainly effective. But hiding people like you only works for a limited amount of time. This is due to what the other half of your parentage is."

I rose an eyebrow and said "And that other half is?" I seemed like I was as cool as a cucumber on the inside, but the truth is that I was nervous to finally have confirmation of my theories.

"I would think that would be obvious Percy." Mr. Brunner said as if he was lecturing me on a Greek myth that I had gotten a part of wrong. "Gods-the forces you call the Greek gods-are very much alive. And like mortals, they occasionally get a need that they have to fulfill."

Well, there went most of my harebrained theories about my father in this world and left only the really weird ones that you sometimes wish weren't true.

Grover brought me out of my thoughts as he timidly said "Mr. D, if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"

"Eh? Oh, all right."

Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully. Meanwhile I looked at Chiron and said "You're going to have to forgive me, but I don't buy it. Why would someone like Zeus come down here just to do the horizontal tango with a mortal woman?"

Distant thunder suddenly rumbled overhead, but it was cloudless right now.

"Young man, I would really be less casual about throwing those kinds of names around if I were you. And as for your question, mortals may be below gods on the ladder but that doesn't mean they don't interact with them."

I scoffed and said "Yeah, they interact with them alright. Turning people into spiders just because they got challenged to a weaving contest or turning a woman into a monster that petrifies people just because she got consensually raped in her own goddess' temple. Personally I don't see what the person in charge of this realm sees in the gods since it seems to me like they do nothing but screw up people's lives. They're barely better than the titans they replaced. So excuse me if I don't give two ryo about whether or not I use their names or not. Because to me, they're nothing but a bunch of kids who throw a tantrum when they don't get what they want."

Thunder rumbled across the cloudless sky again, much closer this time as a single bolt of lightning flashed overhead. Grover was practically a bed sheet right now while Chiron was staring at me with wide eyes. But I was more interested in Mr. D's reaction. His eyes literally burst into purple flames before I felt the crushing weight of that imitated Killing Intent. And then I began seeing visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts.

I waited for thirty seconds in order to see what he was showing me. Then I blasted the guy with every single ounce of Killing Intent that I could call my own causing him to actually jerk in his chair and for both Grover and Chiron to suddenly feel like their hearts had hands around them squeezing them as they were indirectly affected by my Killing Intent. My chakra surged as my hair began turning blondish grey and spiky, my eyes went from sea green to two blocks of ice made out of sapphires, and three lines drew themselves across each cheek as I changed my form to look like my ninety eight year old self from my previous realm.

Then I took it one step further, I pushed images of my own into the other three male's heads through use of a Genjutsu. Images of a Nine Tailed fox demon being controlled to attack a village that looked big enough to be considered a city in this world. Then that same demon being sealed into a new born baby by a single man. I showed him Kakashi's hand surrounded in lightning as he pierced Haku's heart with his semi-bare hand. I showed him my fight against Gaara during the Chunin Exams. I showed him the fight between the three Sannin at Tazunka Town. I showed him me hitting Kakuzu with a Rasenshuriken cutting him into millions of pieces on the cellular level. I showed him me going against Isobo the three tailed turtle with only Gamakichi as my support. I showed him me and Shion slamming a massive rasengan down on a hydra killing it. I showed him Jiraiya turning bandits into toads and showing me the necessary hand signs to do so as well. I showed him me fighting Nagato's six paths virtually single handedly after he had completely leveled the Leaf Village. I showed him the Fourth Shinobi War where me and Bee fought the other resurrected Jinchuriki of our generation before we tore through the army of white Zetsu even as they tried to use Wood style jutsu against us in order to suppress our tenants' chakra while at the same time a number of my clones battled the former Kages and helped fight a resurrected Madara. Finally, I showed him me appearing in front of Kami, who's light had to be dimmed down more than ninety nine percent for me to even see her properly without worrying about being blind or even incinerated from her power.

I looked at the god that I now knew to be Dionysus and said "You can show me your slideshows of doom and gloom all you want. I've seen all of that and more where I come from."

Dionysus narrowed his eyes at me but I didn't care at the moment as I allowed the chakra surrounding my body to disperse turning me back into a twelve year old kid from New York State. My Killing Intent dropped back to zero and Grover and Chiron both took large gasps of air now that they could breathe properly again. They stared at me in absolute terror and I had the feeling that neither of them had ever felt or seen anything even remotely close to things like that before.

"Well now, it seems we have a wild card here." Mr. D said snapping Grover and Chiron out of their fear induced daze. "I'm tired, I believe I'll take a nap before lunch. But first, Grover, we need to talk, _again_, about your less than perfect performance on this assignment. Chiron, if you'd please show Mr. Uzumaki here where to go."

I blinked at the sudden change of topic and use of my former last name as Grover's face beaded with sweat as he said "Y-yes sir."

Mr. D looked back at me and said "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."

I rose my eyebrow but Mr. D just stood up and swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.

I frowned after them before I turned to Chiron whose face was still a little pale as I said "Will Grover be okay? That guy didn't look too friendly."

Chiron nodded although he looked a bit troubled as he glanced at the back door of the farmhouse and said "Old Dionysus isn't really mad at him. He just hates his job. He's been…ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."

I blinked and said "You're telling me there's actually a palace on top of that mountain?"

"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."

"You make it sound like this place is in America, and practically right next door to this area as well."

"Well certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."

My eyebrow rose as I said "The what of the West?"

"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western Civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course with flying colors- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps-Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on-but the same forces, the same gods."

"And then they began moving west again didn't they?" I asked as I began thinking about all of the places with Greek and Roman influence in their architecture.

"Exactly. The gods are constantly moving as the fire does. They moved to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Everyplace they ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And now they reside in the United States. Remember what you said at the museum? How the national symbol of this country is also the symbol of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not-and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either-America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And _we_ are here."

I considered Chiron's words as I looked across the valley towards the ocean. Looking back at him after a minute, I said "Where is Mount Olympus? You said it goes with the Heart of the West but I can think of a number of cities where that would be. DC, New York, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco. Any of those could be called, the 'heart' of western civilization." I frowned before my brain went through more facts before I looked back up and said "It's somewhere on the east coast isn't it? That's the only area that makes sense. Washington DC is the 'heart' of America. If the gods are here like you say, then it makes sense that they'd be somewhere along the same coast as the city."

Chiron nodded and said "Excellent deduction Percy. Mount Olympus is actually in New York city. Right over the Empire State Building to be exact."

I blinked at that since when Chiron said New York city I had at once imagined it being over either the former WTC that had been destroyed four years ago or the Statue of Liberty. I was brought out of my thoughts as Chiron shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair.

"Well, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."

I opened my mouth to tell him I wasn't planning on staying that long since I needed to get my mother out of the underworld as soon as possible. But that thought went temporarily straight to the back of my head as he rose from his wheelchair. There was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way something like that could have held all of him except for by either that or some weird kind of seal, and I knew the latter was impossible. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.

'Well now, that explains _his_ non-human presence.' I thought as I studied the horse body which had just sprung from the wheelchair; a huge white stallion. My Latin teacher was a centaur.

"What a relief," Chiron said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."


	6. I Become Supreme Lord Of The Bathroom

6. I Become Supreme Lord Of The Bathroom

Once Chiron had shaken out his fetlocks, he jumped off the porch to the ground below. Turning around, he said "Are you coming Percy? We really must get you settled in at Cabin Eleven."

I frowned and said "With all due respect sir, I told you before I'm not planning on staying long. I have to figure out how to get to the underworld and get my mom out."

Chiron frowned as well as he said "Now Percy, I know you said that you located your mother's presence underground so you think she's there, but even if you're right, going to the underworld is practically suicide. Even with your-er unique talents. I couldn't in good conscience allow you to go there, especially by yourself."

My eyes narrowed dangerously as I said "So I'm just supposed to forget about her?"

"Oh, gods, no! But there are certain rules to these kinds of things that must be followed. But I assure you, I am quite certain you will be going there soon anyway."

I frowned and was about to ask why he had just said something that was so contradictory to his stance on me going, but he turned and began walking away from the house and I was forced to follow. As we walked, we passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said "That's _him._"

Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I was ignoring their looks when the hairs on my neck stood up and I sensed a gaze on me coming from the building we had just left. I spun around and saw a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I shuddered at the sight I had seen.

"Chiron?" I asked causing the centaur to stop and look back at me as he said "Yes Percy?" I could hear his curiosity at me calling him by his name since I usually called him sir. Pointing to the window, I said "What's up there?"

Chiron frowned when he saw where I was pointing and said "Just the attic."

I frowned at him and said "Mind telling me why there's a mummified creature up there?"

Chiron stiffened before he relaxed and said "That was the Oracle. But it doesn't usually move. Interesting, come, we really should keep moving, lots to see."

I sent another look at the window wondering why Chiron had called the thing an it if he talked about it like it was alive before I shrugged and followed him. We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe. Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."

He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those since he was also restricted from consuming any kind of alcoholic drink including wine, so they grew strawberries instead.

I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. It reminded me of an Aburame purging a farmer's fields of any insects that did more harm than good to the crops. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music. Then I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.

Looking sideways to Chiron as we continued to walk, I said "Grover's not going to get into too much trouble will he?"

Chiron sighed as he shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horse's back like a saddle. Giving me a serious look he said "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."

I snorted and said "I had a few dreams in my previous life that everyone said were impossible for me to accomplish. I accomplished those dreams anyway and those very same people had to eat those words. I've helped unite all of the countries in the Elemental Nations under one banner, not an easy feat to do on a continent filled with shinobi. If Grover wants to pursue his dream then you shouldn't doubt him. I've felt his presence before and it feels a lot like mine did when I was first starting as a Genin. Just give him a chance and I'm sure he'll impress you."

Chiron winced and said "I'm afraid that bringing you here was his second chance Percy, and I'm afraid Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders will most likely not be impressed with his performance. After all, Grover lost you in New York, granted you left him with the intention of keeping him out of danger, but he should have kept you in his sight the whole time. Then there's the unfortunate event of your mother disappearing like she did. Add the fact that Grover was unconscious when you carried him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."

I snorted again and said "Yeah, because all of them have had the car they're riding in get blasted at by a lighting bolt that could potentially put Kakashi-sensei's Chidori to shame. Where is this council? I'll make sure they know just what exactly he went through. I never did like councils." The last part was muttered under my breath but I knew that Chiron heard it with those radar ears of his when his eyebrow raised.

Sighing, Chiron said "They would have reason to be harsh with him Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another chance, not after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age…"

"How old is he?" I asked.

"Oh, twenty-eight." Chiron said off-handedly and it was my own eyebrow's turn to raise as I said "He's twenty-eight and he's still in sixth grade? And I thought all school teachers except for you and Iruka-sensei hated me."

Chiron chuckled and said "Satyrs mature half as fast as humans Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."

I tried to picture being in middle school for that long or even the academy for eight years and I shuddered as I said "Hate to be a satyr then. I'd probably go mad and prank the school I was in so bad it'd take a year to clean up the mess."

"Quite." Chiron agreed obviously remembering the time when I had metaphorically snapped that one time at Yancy and ended up super gluing the entire student population of my English class to their seats when they said that a poem I had written down for homework that was from the Elemental Nations was the worst kind of trash imaginable and not even worth the paper it was on. That poem had been passed down in the Hidden Leaf Village for just over a century and was written by Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. Those kids just couldn't understand the arts.

"At any rate," Chiron said "Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career…"

His voice trailed off as I shot him a glare and said "You sound exactly like Iruka-sensei did when he told me I would never be able to make a useful clone in my life. Which tells me that you either never had any faith in him or his first time must have been the ultimate cluster fuck of all time. What the hell could have happened to make you have no faith in him?"

Chiron quickly looked away and said "Let's move along, shall we?"

But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Deciding to make sure to get my point across, I stopped and said "Chiron?" When he also stopped and turned his head to look back at me, I said "I told you Iruka-sensei once told me I could never make a proper clone in my life. I proved him wrong when I learned how to do this." I crossed my hands and a poof of smoke erupted beside me before it cleared and revealed a shadow clone. Chiron looked stunned as I kept the clone around for ten seconds and then dispelled it before I walked past him. As I did, I said "You really shouldn't judge Grover so harshly. He's going to surprise you all, I can tell."

Chiron was quiet as he began walking beside me again before he gestured to the woods and we changed course slightly to head there instead of the cabins. As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, I almost thought we were back in the Land of Fire, staring out of the Leaf Village's main gate at the surrounding trees. In this realm, I could imagine nobody had been in there with anything resembling an axe since the Native Americans.

Chiron said "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed. Even with your skills, I wouldn't go in there without a weapon."

My eyebrow rose and I said "Stocked with what exactly?"

"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"

I rose an eyebrow before I formed a wind sword in my hand and said "The very air around us is my weapon Chiron. As for shields, we shinobi don't really use them."

Chiron frowned as he said "Right, I forgot about what you're former occupation was exactly. Still, I'd recommend you go to the armory. I'm sure that you could find a dagger or sword that would work for you."

Chiron turned from the woods and our tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (Which Chiron obviously didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights. He then pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof, no walls. I frowned at the lack of any true shelter making it less of a hall and more of a glorified picnic area. I didn't say anything though since I sensed it would be pointless.

Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without a doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen, in this realm or my previous one.

Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at. They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops.

In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.

The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.

"Zeus and Hera?" I asked.

"Correct."

I frowned as I looked at the two cabins which didn't seem to have been used in the past century, if ever, and said "They look so empty, like they were just made as if the architect simply went through the motions."

"Several of the cabins are empty right now. That is an unfortunate truth, but no one ever stays in one or two."

I frowned at Chiron's response. Hera I could guess why considering what she was the goddess of, but some of the other cabins being empty as well? Either some of the gods were becoming more virtuous over the centuries, or there was something big going on here. As I was trying to figure out which one it was, I felt a sudden pulling sensation from the first cabin on the left, cabin three.

It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. I could smell that the interior had a salty scent, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down, but like cabins one and two, there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. It had a sad air and felt so lonely, like the cabin wanted to be filled but knew it couldn't be.

I was pulled from my thoughts when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said "Come along Percy."

I gave the cabin one last look before I followed Chiron. I knew that I belonged in that cabin but I didn't say anything. Chiron was freaked out when I showed him what I could do in my previous life. Couple that with my new skills I think I would probably give the guy a heart attack if I said I was pretty sure that I was the son of one of the Big Three.

Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers. Number five was bright red- a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists (Which was probably true considering the occupants inside). The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me. Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL Camp Half-Blood T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. I rose an eyebrow as I was reminded of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.

I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves as I said "We haven't seen any other centaurs around here."

"No." Chiron said sadly "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."

I frowned at that since Chiron seemed to be as far from barbaric as a chipmunk was a tiger. Either centaurs had degraded with the ages or Chiron was simply just one of those exceptions to the rules. I absentmindedly noticed his white stallion's body again and my mind instantly focused on it as I remembered the description 'Mr. Brunner' had given us of one particular centaur.

"Holy shit. You're the actual _Chiron_ aren't you? The one who trained Hercules."

Chiron frowned at me and said "Language Percy." Then he smiled and said "But yes, yes I am."

"Dang, talk about longevity. How are you still alive? I mean that was thousands of years ago, shouldn't you be dead?" I said trying to figure out how he was alive for so long since it obviously wasn't normal or the other centaurs would have hopefully sobered up in their old age.

Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about _should_ be. The truth is, I _can't_ be dead. You see eons ago, the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that wish…and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."

I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list. Especially when you consider that your students would always die before you.

"It must be sad seeing all of your students die before you." I said solemnly.

Chiron gave a sad nod as he said "Indeed." Then he seemed to perk up as he spotted the girl from before and said "Oh, look, Annabeth is waiting for us."

Said blond girl was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven. When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was trying to still figure out how I had jumped so far from the tree as if it was nothing.

I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't quite make out the title. The title was in Greek and had pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book. Which probably explained why I couldn't figure out the full title if it was about architecture. I had always focused more on the mythological side of Greek in my studies of the language, and there were quite a few words used purely for architecture when speaking it.

"Annabeth, I have masters' archery class soon. Would you take Percy from here?" Chiron said drawing me out of my thoughts about the book.

"Yes sir." Annabeth said.

"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."

Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on _old_. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it, a caduceus. I frowned at the symbol wishing it was a red cross instead of a caduceus which always reminded me of a certain snake using traitor but shook those thoughts away as I looked inside the cabin.

It was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.

Chiron didn't go in since the door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully. It reminded me of how the villagers would always bow to Old Man Sarutobi whenever he took his walks.

"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck Percy. I'll see you later." And with that parting farewell, Chiron turned and galloped away toward the archery range.

I looked through the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. It reminded me of the stare-down shinobi usually get in before they fight their opponent.

"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."

I shrugged and walked through the doorway and gave a small bow of my own as I said "Hello, my name is Percy Jackson. I hope we can get along well."

There were some snickers at my introduction while a few others gave small waves as they smiled. Somebody asked "Regular or undetermined?"

Knowing what the kid was asking, I said "Undetermined, although I have a pretty good idea who my dad is."

Everybody groaned although I could tell that they were curious. Then a guy who was a little older than the rest came forward as he said "Now, now campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash. He instantly reminded me of some of the veteran shinobi I had worked with when I was younger. Veterans of the Third Shinobi War that were really good fighters but not good enough to get out of the fighting without collecting a few 'souvenirs'.

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow. I glanced over and smirked as I saw that she was blushing ever so slightly. She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor for now."

"You're undetermined," Luke said before I could even open my mouth, (Not that I was going to. It was pretty obvious why Annabeth said 'for now') like he had said this many times in the past. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

I nodded and looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I pulled a small folded up piece of paper out of my pants' pocket that I always kept on hand for emergencies and unfolded it to reveal three tiny seals on it. Ignoring the raised eyebrows from most of the people in cabin eleven, I walked over to the spot and placed the paper down as I poured chakra into one of the storage seals. There was the usual burst of smoke surprising all of the other campers before it cleared and revealed a camouflage green sleeping bag sitting on the floor. I picked up my seal tag and refolded it before I turned around and saw everyone staring at me.

I smirked and said "What? Don't tell me you guys don't have some magical way to store things into smaller objects."

"We do, but nothing like that." Luke said as he looked at the paper that was still in my hand. I shrugged as I pocketed the paper and said "Yeah well, we do things a little differently where I'm from."

I could see that they all had more questions but Annabeth grabbed my arm and said "Come on, I'll show you the volleyball court."

I shrugged and let her drag me out of the cabin. When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said "Jackson, where exactly are you from?"

I rose an eyebrow wondering why we couldn't have had this conversation in the cabin but said "Well that depends on which life you're asking about."

Annabeth had continued walking but stopped when she heard what I said. Turning back around with a frown, she said "What do you mean which life?"

I smiled as I lifted my right hand up like I did in Gabe's Camaro yesterday and a rasengan spun into existence shocking her. Still smiling, I said "This isn't my first time on the road of life Annabeth. I learned quite a few things my first time through. Of course where I'm from originally we do things quite differently than most of this world."

"You were reincarnated?" Annabeth asked in a whisper and I saw an unidentifiable emotion that was probably closest to hope and anxiety flit across her eyes. I nodded as my rasengan faded away and said "Yeah, but I have to say, this life is nowhere near as exciting as my first one."

Annabeth was about to say something to that when a husky voice yelled "Well! A newbie!"

I looked over towards the voice and frowned. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering her way toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.

"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

"_Eres es korakas!"_ Annabeth said, which I mentally translated into English as "Go to the crows!" Sounded to me like one of those slightly obscure taunts of "Go fuck yourself and then kill your sorry ass!" "You don't stand a chance." Annabeth said coolly.

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched and I smirked. It seemed that she wasn't completely sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward me and scowled at my smirk as she said "Who's this little runt?"

"Percy Jackson, meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares." Annabeth said.

I blinked, and said "As in the war god?"

Clarisse sneered and said "You got a problem with that?"

I cocked my head and said "Not a problem per-say, but I figured the children of a god of fighting would focus less on looking like the minotaur and more on getting their bodies into proper fighting shape."

Annabeth let out a small snort while Clarisse growled and said "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."

"It's Percy actually, and I'll pass." I said calmly staring at the girl.

"You don't have a choice, _Prissy_." Clarisse sneered.

"Clarisse-" Annabeth tried to say.

"Stay out of it, wise girl."

Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I was glad since I didn't want her getting involved in a fight without knowing her abilities first. Whenever you fought alongside someone who you didn't know the abilities of, you were bound to get in each other's way. Besides, I was the new kid here, I had to earn my own rep.

So I handed Annabeth the minotaur horn that I hadn't let go of since last night and got into the starting stance of the Academy style. I wasn't in it for half a second before Clarisse lunged at me and made a move to put me in a headlock. I grabbed her outstretched right arm by the wrist and pulled her farther towards me before I spun her around and bent her arm against her back so that her hand nearly touched the back of her head. Clarisse had just enough time to grit her teeth in order to not scream in pain before I bent her forward so that her head was parallel with the ground. I then literally kicked her ass and sent her crashing into the ground in front of her three friends. Said girls had narrowed eyes while Clarisse quickly stood up and turned around shooting me a glare.

I narrowed my own eyes as I said "I hate people like you, always thinking that their strength gives them the right to push others around. Now I'm only going to give you all one chance to leave before I make the rest of your day absolutely miserable. So, Back Off!"

Clarisse growled and said "Get him!"

The four girls all rushed towards me with Clarisse staying in the lead. As soon as she was in arm's reach, she threw a right punch which I swatted away before slamming my fist into her solar plexus causing her eyes to go wide as she stumbled. I kicked her legs out from underneath her and slammed an elbow into her back while she was on her way down for good measure. I then ducked under a wide swung punch from the next girl before I shot back up with an uppercut to her chin. As the girl stumbled back I round house kicked her in the ribs sending her into one of her friends causing both to fall to the ground before I used the momentum of the kick to spin on my left ankle in a full circle and came out with a vicious backhand that sent the last girl flying to the side a few feet before falling heavily on her side.

Smirking at the girls who were shakily getting back to their feet, I said "Are you girls sure that Ares is your dad? You sure don't look like the children of a war god. I mean hell, even a fan girl could fight better than you four."

All four girls were now on their feet with absolute fury on their faces which only caused me to smirk more at them losing their cool. It would be all that easier to beat them now. Clarisse let out a roar of anger as she pulled a dagger out of the waistline of her jeans and rushed at me with her three friends following suit with daggers of their own. As they did, my smirk turned evil as I shot my right arm out to a nearby cinderblock building that I instinctively knew was the restrooms for the cabins.

There was a loud gurgling sound before water burst through the doors to the restroom and surged upwards as it came towards us forming into the shape of an eastern dragon as it stopped ten feet over my head. The four girls skidded to a stop with wide eyes as I grinned and said "You girls smell like you could use a good shower."

The imitation of the Water Dragon jutsu opened its mouth and let out a silent roar before it launched itself at the girls and slammed into them. While the attack wasn't as strong as an actual water dragon, it slammed into them with enough force to throw the girls halfway across the commons area. The nine year old girl by the fire was staring at the sight as the four bigger girls were trying to get to their feet. I blazed through hand signs and shouted "Hey girls! How about a blow dry? Wind Style: Gale Force Jutsu!" I thrust both of my arms forward and a massive blast of wind shot out of my hands and slammed into the girls throwing them the rest of the way across the commons before they hit the ground and rolled until they slammed into cabin number six.

Campers began to file out of the cabins as they heard and saw the commotion. Across the commons I saw Clarisse glaring at me and I read her lips as she said to her friends "That guy is so dead on Friday night." I saw her three friends nod. I felt Annabeth's stare and turned around to see her looking at me with confusion. I couldn't blame her though since I had used both wind style and water manipulation in the so called 'fight'. And those two weren't known to mix well in this world.

I rose an eyebrow and said "I told you we do things differently where I come from."

Annabeth blinked and said "Okay, you're definitely on my team on Friday night."


	7. My Dinner Goes Up In Smoke

7. My Dinner Goes Up In Smoke

Word of my using the bathroom's entire day's water supply understandably spread rapidly. Wherever I went after the fight, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. I smirked every time I heard them wondering how I could use both wind and water as I followed Annabeth as she continued the tour.

She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords that I knew that I'd return to today), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall, which instantly reminded me of Gai and Lee's over excessive training since it actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.

Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins. "I've got training to do." Annabeth said flatly. "Lunch is at one and dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

I nodded before I put my minotaur horn down and hopped off the pier causing Annabeth's eyes to widen as I walked casually on top of the water a short distance away before I formed a heavily reinforced clone. Turning around, I saw her wide eyed stare and smiled as I said in a joking manner "Oh come on, this _can't_ be the first time you've seen someone water walk before. I mean, if some guy in Israel two thousand years ago could do it then how hard can it be for the rest of you?"

I turned back around and nodded to my clone who nodded back before he thrust his right arm at me in a pushing motion sending a blast of wind out of his palm as he wordlessly and seallessly let loose with the Gale Palm jutsu. I leapt to the right and tucked and rolled allowing the edge of the jutsu to blow my shirt back before I came out of my roll in a crouch and sent my own pushing motion with my arm. The water underneath me responded to the gesture and a stream of water launched itself from under my feet and shot to my clone who quickly cart wheeled away. As this was happening, I heard the campers who were in canoes as they noticed the spar we were having and began talking to each other. I didn't pay attention to them though since my clone had ran through hand signs and shouted "Wind Style: Wind Senbon Jutsu!"

The clone took a deep breath before he blew out sending over a hundred practically invisible wind senbon at me. I jumped out of my crouched position and over the senbon even as I swung my arm in a windmill fashion before my arm was pointed back at the clone. The water of the lake responded to the gesture as a pillar of water with a five foot radius shot up into the air behind me before it arched over my head and shot itself towards the clone who quickly formed a tornado around himself that froze the water when it hit. The clone then punched the ice causing it to shatter before he sent the shards at my form with another seal less Gale Palm as I landed back on the water.

As soon as I landed and saw the shards rocketing towards me, I brought my left hand up to my right shoulder and spun. As soon as I came out of the spin I threw my left arm out in a half circle. The water responded and a fifteen foot wide wave shot out of the lake and slammed into the ice shards stopping them in their tracks even as the wave continued on its path to my clone who quickly jumped over the wave as he ran through hand signs. Looking out of the corner of my eye to the pier, I saw Annabeth staring at the fight in fascination and I shouted "I thought you said that you had training to do! Wind Style: Horizontal Tornado Jutsu!" I thrust my arms out and a horizontal twister shot out of my hands and slammed into the one my clone had sent my way. Annabeth blinked before she said "I think I'd rather watch you."

There were easily at least a dozen ways you could take that statement but I just shrugged before I rushed at my clone who was just starting to fall and jumped up to his level and placed my left foot on his chest before I pushed off causing us to separate again even as the clone managed to land a hit on my own chest when I first appeared next to him. We both back flipped as we rocketed away from each other before we landed and shot back at each other and started trading blows with our hands and feet using the toad style.

We traded blows for a while before I ducked under a kick and tried to sweep my clone's other leg from beneath him and said "So just out of a curiosity, which cabin are you?"

"Cabin six." Annabeth said. I could see her narrowed eyes out of the corner of my own and I could tell that she was trying to figure out what form of martial arts we were using.

"Which is?" I asked as my clone leaped over the leg sweep and tried to kick my head with the same foot I had tried to hit causing me to roll to the side going into a hand stand and spin with my legs in a split forcing the clone to backpedal a little.

I saw Annabeth straighten as she said "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."

"Now see, I never got that. How can there be two gods or goddesses of the same thing? I mean we have Ares who's the god of war and we have Athena who is the goddess of battle. As far as I can tell, they're the exact same thing. What about your dad?" I asked as the clone caught one of my legs and pulled me toward him. I retaliated by pushing off from my hand stand and turned my whole body sending my other foot towards the clone's head causing him to quickly release my first leg as he blocked the second.

"One is nothing but a berserker most of the time while the other keeps her cool." Annabeth said before she paused and I got the feeling my question trespassed on a touchy subject before she said "My dad is a professor at West Point. I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."

I "Hmm'd" as I landed and began dancing away from my opponent's retaliatory strikes. Dodging a punch aimed for my right shoulder I said "Well my mom's name is Sally Jackson and works at the Sweet on America candy store at Grand Central. She wants to be a novelist but she's had a hard life so far so she's trying to save up money. As for my dad, like I said before, I have a pretty good idea that hasn't been confirmed yet."

I saw Annabeth nod before I spun away from a palm thrust that reminded me strongly of the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist style and came out with a round house kick to my clone's ribs.

"Too bad you can't just tell Chiron who you think your father was so that way you can just move into the right cabin. But it's not that simple. Nobody knows who he was."

I snorted as the clone locked my foot up against his body with his arm and turned to pull me off balance as I said "Except my mother. She definitely knew who he was."

Annabeth bit her lip as she said "Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."

I snorted again as I went with the pull from my clone and used it to my own advantage as my foot dropped from the hold and rocketed towards his foot and I said "Well this was one time when mine did. And can you blame me for having a good idea considering what you've seen me do before?"

Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She obviously didn't want to burst my bubble. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign soon. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."

I frowned as my clone retaliated with a back hand which I swatted away and sent a half fisted palm thrust of my own at his throat which was swatted away as well as I said "You mean sometimes it doesn't?"

Annabeth ran her palm along the rail of the pier she was standing on and said "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always…Well, sometimes they don't care about us Percy. They ignore us."

Me and my clone suddenly both pushed away from each other before we ran through hand signs and my clone shot a miniature wind dragon at me as I sent wind senbon at him. The dragon blitzed through the needles before continuing towards me before I back handed it with a wind coated hand causing it to burst apart. As this was happening, I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But a large part of me thought that gods should have been better. Or at the very least have kept their sex life smaller so that way they wouldn't leave so many kids wondering.

I shook my head from those thoughts as I sent a wind dragon of my own at my sparring partner who countered by manipulating the water to rise up in a wall that reminded me of the Water Encampment Jutsu. As the dragon slammed against the raised water, I said "So they're stuck in cabin eleven. Can they at least leave the camp once in a while?"

"It depends." Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble-about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."

While Annabeth had been talking, me and my clone had thrown three more jutsu at each other before we both formed a wind sword and rushed each other to begin a kenjutsu match. I frowned as I said "So monsters can't get in here?"

Annabeth shook her head and said "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."

I snorted as I blocked my opponent's swing with a quick upward swing of my blade as I asked "Why would someone do something stupid like that?"

"Practice fights, practical jokes." came my answer.

I rose an eyebrow and said "Sounds a little extreme for a joke."

"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

I nodded before I suddenly slammed my blade into where the hilt of my clone's sword was and spun the blades in a circle causing him to let go and the blade to disperse before I took a quick step closer and head butted my clone causing him to finally disperse. Letting my own sword dissipate into the surrounding air, I heard cheering coming from the campers in the canoes who had watched the whole fight and gave a short bow to them before I turned back to the pier and walked over as I picked up the minotaur horn and said "So I take it you're a year-rounder?"

Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.

"I've been here since I was seven," She said "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."

I frowned and said "Why did you come so young? You said that monsters don't really attack us until we're at least ten."

She twisted the ring on her necklace and sighed as she said "It wasn't monsters that drove me away from home."

"Oh." I said, thinking about what could have driven her away from her home. I shook my head from those thoughts though and looked for a topic that would take her mind off obviously bad memories. Finding one, I said "Do you have any idea what the summer solstice deadline is? I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it at my school but Grover wouldn't tell me anything when I asked him."

Annabeth clenched her fists as she said "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so _normal_."

I rose an eyebrow and Annabeth said "Some of the year-rounders-Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others-we took a field trip during the winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

"So how do you get up to Olympus? The last time I checked, the Empire State Building only has a hundred and two floors. But Chiron made it sound like it was much higher than that." I said.

"Well there's a special elevator to the six hundredth floor. Anyways, right after we visited, the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping…I mean- Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something.

I shook my head and said "Sorry. But I'm afraid I don't know anything more than what you just said now. When I died the first time, the person who's in charge of my realm sent me here as a favor to the head honcho upstairs because the 'middle guys' were going to make a big mess. Kami didn't tell me any specifics though, just that I'd have twelve years to prepare."

Annabeth's eyes widened as she said "Wait, you were sent here because of what's happening now? Then that means-"

I cut her off before she could continue as I said "Annabeth, do not get too far ahead of yourself. I still don't know exactly what I'm doing here. All I know is that I need to keep my skills sharp."

Annabeth bit her lip before she nodded and turned around as she began walking away. I had the distinct feeling that I had just told her to shove off but I knew that I couldn't get her hopes up when I didn't even know what I was supposed to do yet. Although now that I knew that all of the terrible weather was because of something stolen I now also knew that we had someone who was willing to steal from the 'higher' powers. Made me wonder if the object wasn't stolen to provoke a war.

I shook those thoughts away before I began walking away from the lake to the metal shop. I had been living in this world for twelve years without a proper weapon and it was time to change that, I wanted that feeling of security that having a kunai near you at all times gave you.

When I entered, most of the campers looked up at me briefly before they went back to work. One of the older kids came over and said "Can I help you?"

I shook my head and said "What I need to make is probably something you guys don't. I know how to make them though."

The kid looked confused and said "And what would that be?"

"Kunai." I said before I began collecting the necessary supplies.

"Kunai?" The kid asked and I could tell that he had no idea what those were. Some of the other kids glanced back up at us momentarily in confusion when they heard the word but quickly went back to work.

Nodding, I said "They're ninja throwing knives. I want to make a set of twelve so that way I have something to fight with that's easier than using a sword. Got any steel in here?" I asked that since I saw most of the campers were working with a metal that while looked like bronze, shone more like silver or even gold.

The other kid frowned and said "We have some. But we don't really use it for weapons, we use celestial bronze for that."

I frowned in turn and said "Well that could be a problem. Would it be alright if I use the steel instead? That's what the kunai I've used before was made out of."

The kid shrugged and said "I guess you could. It's not very effective against monsters though. Also, celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals which is why we use it since it's frowned upon for us to harm mortals."

I 'hm'ed before I walked over to the large cabinet the kid gestured at and opened it to see bars of almost every kind of metal you would find that you could safely use in a metal works shop, with the main focus on celestial bronze. I picked up a bar of said metal and examined it.

As I had observed before, the bronze shone in a way no normal bronze did. It also felt heavier than it should have. It must have weighed at least half again as much as a bar of steel. I grabbed a nearby bar of steel and noticed that I was right in my estimation as I weighed each bar alongside each other. Out of curiosity I channeled chakra into the bronze and was pleasantly surprised when the bar began glowing with a shell of blue around it. It seemed that whatever this stuff was it was an excellent chakra conductor.

I turned back around and said "Mind if I use two bars of bronze and ten bars of steel?"

The kid shrugged and said "It's there for our use. Are you sure you know how to use all of the equipment here properly?"

I nodded and said "I've worked with a blacksmith before for a few years. I remember a few things." As I talked, I remembered the ten years I had spent helping Ten Ten around the weapon's store that she had started when she retired during my free time.

The kid nodded and went back to his own project. I in turn grabbed an apron and some more bars of metal as I ran through a mental check list of what I would need and what steps were needed to make kunai.

Five hours later I walked out of the metal shop with my new kunai set wrapped in a bundle as I made my way to the arts-and-crafts building to see if I could make a kunai pouch. As I walked I absentmindedly noticed that I had missed both breakfast and lunch but didn't pay the fact any mind.

Half an hour later, I walked out with a pouch attached to my belt. The satyrs inside had been very helpful with finding me the proper type of cloth that could take a lot of wear and tear. We had settled on the denim that is used in Levi's that was doubled layered and sewed together with enough stitching to easily hold itself together for the next ten or so years.

I looked around wondering what I should do next before my eyes landed on the forest and I grinned as I once again noticed how big the trees were. It had been just over a decade since I had the chance to tree hop, now seemed the perfect time to do so. Plus I could get a lay of the land inside for Friday night. I took off towards the woods in a blur shocking the campers who were playing volleyball against some satyrs as they saw me rocket towards the woods before I took a huge chakra enhanced jump and landed on one of the tree branches in the first tree before I shot off of it and continued into the forest.

Five hours later, I walked into cabin eleven to see everybody talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. I took the time to notice that a lot of the campers had similar features that made it clear that they were the regulars: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers. None of them paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot where my sleeping bag was so I slipped the horn into the inside pocket of the sleeping bag that was there for you to keep objects from freezing if you were in cold climates like radios. What wasn't as well advertised was the fact that there was a storage seal in said pocket which I place the horn in.

After a minute of watching all of the kids interacting, I saw Luke walk through the door and automatically zoom in on me. As he came over, he smiled and said "I was able to steal you some toiletries from the camp store. Figured you could use them."

It took all of my experience as a shinobi to tell that he was just joking about the stealing part. I smiled as I thought that if I could choose who my father was then I'd definitely choose Hermes since these guys looked like practical jokers and prank masters. I shook those thoughts from my head and said "Thanks, I've only got a limited supply of my own and those are for emergencies."

Luke nodded and sat next to me with his back pushed against the wall as he said "No prob. So what do you think of the camp?"

I shrugged and said "It's nice, but some of the company outside of this cabin could use improving."

Luke laughed and said "Yeah, those Ares kids can be hard to get along with."

We stayed silent for a few minutes before I said "So your dad is Hermes, right?" When Luke nodded, I said "So are you guys all Speedy Gonzales' cousins, or more like Melvin the Martian with his jetpack?"

Luke laughed again as he said "Well our dad does give us shoes like his when he comes to claim us, but I've never seen any of us go so fast as to leave a dust trail." He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket and flipped it open and used it to scrape the mud off the sole of his sandal.

"So he actually comes here instead of sending a sign?" I asked, glad on the inside that at least one god seemed to be a responsible one.

Luke nodded and said "Yeah, it's great for us who have him as a father since he usually shows up within a day of us coming here. Of course, it's probably because he's down here a lot anyways since he's basically the mail man for the gods."

I h'mmed before we fell back into silence again. I looked around before I thought of another topic and said "Pardon me for saying this, but Annabeth seemed a little…restless I guess you could say."

Luke sighed as he folded his knife which he had been absentmindedly playing with and said "I hate prophecies."

I rose an eyebrow and said "Okay, I'll bite. Why do you hate prophecies, and what does it have to do with Annabeth wanting to go on a quest so bad?"

Luke's face twitched around the scar as he said "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until…somebody special came to the camp."

I sighed and said "Well now I know why she freaked out when I told her that I had been reincarnated."

Luke's head snapped over to look at me and I heard at least one joint crack as he said "You were _what_?"

I turned my head to look him in the eyes and he suddenly flinched as my eyes went from a twelve year old with unusual abilities to a ninety eight year old shinobi. Grinning, I said "Like I told Annabeth earlier, this isn't my first time on the road of life. I'd appreciate it though if you didn't go around shouting that fact."

Luke was about to say something in response when a horn blew in the distance. I could instantly tell it was a conch shell even if I had never heard one before. Luke shook his head before he yelled "Eleven, fall in!" Turning back to me, he said "We'll continue this later."

I shrugged and followed the rest of the cabin, about twenty of us, as they filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last, not that I minded. Campers came from the other cabins too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.

We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. What I assumed to be Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods-and when I say out of the woods, I mean _straight_ out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill. In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.

At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off and using chakra to keep the other half on the bench.

I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur. Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair. Clarisse sat behind me at Ares' table. She'd apparently gotten over what happened this morning since she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses and said "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and barbecue. My glass was empty, but Luke said "Speak to it. Whatever you want-nonalcoholic of course."

I gained a thoughtful look before I grinned and said "Konoha's Bean Soup."

The glass filled with the drink that I hadn't had in over a decade and I took a sip before grinning again. Then a thought stuck me and I grinned bigger as I said "Blue Bean Soup." The soup turned a light shade of blue and I took another sip and found it to taste even better. Laughing, I gave a silent toast to my mother and her fascination with the color. I promised myself I would get her out of the underworld as soon as possible, even if I had to take on the head honcho himself to do so.

Luke brought me out of my thoughts as he handed me a platter of smoked brisket and said "Here you go Percy."

I loaded my plate and was about to dig in when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. Glancing at Luke as I followed suite, I said "Tribute to the gods?" remembering Chiron's toast.

Luke nodded as we walked over and said "They like the smell of burnt offerings."

I frowned and said "I don't think I'd like the smell of burnt anything. Well maybe some kinds of wood, but still."

Luke gave a shrug before he tossed a cluster of fat red grapes into the fire and said "Hermes."

I was next and I took a big slice of brisket and tossed it into the fire as I silently thought 'Poseidon.' I caught a whiff of the smoke and suddenly knew why somebody would like the smell. It smelled nothing like burning food. Instead, it smelled like hot chocolate and fresh baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together but did.

When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention. Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.

"Personally," Mr. D continued "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Jackson."

Chiron murmured something and Mr. D corrected himself as he said "Er, Percy Jackson. That's right, hurrah and all that."

I snorted drawing attention to myself as I said "Pleasure being here too."

Mr. D rolled his eyes as he said "Yes well, all of you can go run along to your silly campfire now. Go on."

Everybody cheered and we all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around. I decided to have some fun and made a few clones who transformed into the Three Stooges and we began performing different parts of the show to the camper's delight even as they wondered how I did it.

Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. As we reached cabin eleven I stopped and looked up at the night sky and thought 'I have to admit, this wasn't so bad.' I then turned and walked into the cabin ready for some sleep.


	8. We Capture A Flag

8. We Capture A Flag

The next few days I allowed myself to settle into a routine that felt almost normal for me since it was so similar to my past life. Well, similar if you don't count the fact that we were getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.

Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, who began making sure that I could decode more than just the mythological portion of the language. She had a tendency to put more emphasis on the architectural terms but I shrugged it off and did my best to soak her lessons up like a sponge.

The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something that I could enjoy. Chiron tried to teach me archery, but we found out pretty quickly that a bow and arrow weren't really my style so on the first day I switched to getting my accuracy back with my steel kunai and learning how to properly throw my celestial bronze kunai. By the end of the class I was matching the Apollo kids bulls eye for bulls eye impressing most of the students.

Foot racing was alright, but again, it wasn't really my thing. I could keep up with the wood nymph instructors if I used chakra while running full speed, but I wasn't Gai or Lee who were obsessed with training by running over a thousand laps around the Leaf Village so I gave that a pass as well.

Wrestling was actually pretty funny. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would try to pay me back for the toilet water I practically shoved down her throat, and every time I would have her on the floor within ten seconds. That girl just did not know when to give up.

I enjoyed playing volleyball and canoeing was really relaxing. Trying the climbing wall was pretty good training as well.

I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. With all of my past experience as a shinobi, very few of the activities came hard to me, although I absolutely refused to participate in the basket weaving class they had on Tuesday since there was no way I was going to allow myself to be forced to make a basket with flower designs woven into it.

Despite that slight bump in the road, I grew to like the camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and make everybody else laugh with the slightly modified stories I would tell during the campfires. My mom never left my mind though. Sometimes she was right at the front of my mind if I wasn't busy doing something. Other times it was further in the back. But I never forgot that look on her face just before she burst into light particles.

Thursday afternoon, six days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-blood, I had my first sword-fighting 'lesson'. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor. He had me show him my basics against the straw dummies and I did fairly good considering the fact that none of the available blades were balanced right for me. Finally I just said "Screw this." and took one of my celestial bronze kunai and pumped wind chakra through it and used it to rapidly cut all of the dummy's limbs off before I beheaded him earning an approving look from Luke as he complimented my style. After that we moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced that he would be my partner, since this was my first time.

'Heh, he's acting like I've never actually fought before.' I thought although I knew he was interested in my fighting style since I had told him I had been reincarnated. We never did really have the rest of that talk. One kid wished me good luck as he told me that Luke was the best swordsman in the last three hundred years. I had to keep myself from snorting and saying maybe in this realm. Instead I nodded and took out my other bronze kunai and settled into a stance as Luke did the same with his sword.

Our fight was both short and at the same time interesting. As soon as Luke told me to start, I was in his face with my shorter weapons forcing him to constantly block. I was impressed that he was able to attack in between defending himself from the flurry of strikes that I launched at him. He would have made an excellent Kenjutsu specialist back in the Elemental Nations. But my experience trumped his and five minutes in I had him on his back with a kunai that was lengthened into a wind sword at his throat to all of the rest of the cabin's surprise.

The next few fights were a bit more mild allowing the rest to focus more on their own fights. After we took a break for drinks, Luke had us all circle up on him as he said "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you guys a demo of a move that is very useful."

I shrugged showing I didn't mind as Luke told us he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of you own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon. I instantly recognized the description as the move that I had used when I had sparred with my clone on top of the lake.

"This is difficult." Luke stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique." Even though it was said in jest, I knew how hard such a technique could actually be when against an experienced opponent, not to mention risky if you don't do it just right. I had actually been a bit lucky when I had performed the move against my clone. Luke then handed me a 'regular' sword made out of celestial bronze and demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. As expected, the sword clattered out of my hand.

"Now in real time," he said as I retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready Percy?"

I nodded and we both shifted into our stances. We stayed like that for a few seconds sizing up our opponent's stance before Luke rushed at me and sent a sideways swing towards my side which I caught with the flat of my blade and jerked upwards as I turned into an extremely fast spin and sent my own horizontal swing which Luke deflected before he sent a shot at my hilt. I quickly back stepped avoiding the blade and then quickly stepped back forward as I lunged at him. Luke sidestepped the blade and came at me at an angle and I once again blocked with the flat of my blade before I suddenly slid my blade down his creating sparks as it went straight to his hilt and I disarmed him by spinning the sword out of his hand. Our fight had lasted maybe thirty seconds but the rest of the cabin were cheering as Luke picked up his sword and said "Excellent Percy. A little different but still essentially the same move. And with a misbalanced sword as well. Now, who else would like to try?"

I gave a nod of thanks as I stepped into the circle while the others were talking with the usual you do it, no you do it before the next person finally stepped forward and began fighting with Luke.

Friday afternoon came and I found myself sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from using the climbing wall nearly thirty times. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat barely using his hands when he did it. But while I was tempted to follow his example and use chakra I thought that it kind of defeated the purpose so I went at it like a 'normal' half-blood using both hands and feet. I really had to push myself to avoid the lava a few times.

We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket weaving, until I asked Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D almost a full week ago.

His face turned a sickly shade of yellow as he said "Fine, just great."

I gave my friend a pointed look as I said "I've told you before that you really need to learn how to lie better Grover. Now what happened? You weren't demoted or anything were you?"

He looked at me funny before he sighed and looked down into the lake waters at the naiads and said "Mr. D suspended judgment about how I handled watching you. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."

I snorted and said "Gee, he doesn't want much does he? According to Luke no one's had a quest in two years. Is he expecting to wait a decade before we do one?"

Grover looked even more depressed as he nodded and said "He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest…and even if you did, why would you want _me_ along?"

I frowned and said "Grover, you are my friend, the one who kept me from going all World War III on the other students at Yancy. Of course I'd take you with me. And not just because of that either. You have buried deep inside you a fire that will burn brighter than a hundred bonfires someday. You just have to find it."

Grover stared glumly into the water as if I had never even spoken and said "Basket-weaving…Must be nice to have a useful skill."

I sighed before I made a few hand signs and to his surprise poked his forehead. Before he had a chance to ask me what I was doing, images of my academy years began entering his brain. Afterwards, my fighting against Negato when he attacked the village appeared.

When the images stopped, I looked at Grover and said "You remind me a lot about myself Grover. And look at how I turned out. So stop being so hard on yourself."

Grover could only nod before we went into silence for a few minutes. Afterwards, we began talking about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. I could see Grover cheering up as the conversations moved away from his problems and I smiled. Afterwards, I asked about the four empty cabins since only one or two made sense to be empty.

"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis. She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad." Grover said.

I nodded since that made since. Even if she'd never have kids, nobody wants to be left out of something.

"That makes sense. What about the other three? Everyone keeps talking about the Big Three but I always thought that it was Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades who were called that. Is it actually Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon?"

Grover tensed. It was obvious we were getting close to a touchy subject as he said "No, you are right about who they are. Hera's is also an honorary cabin since as the god of marriage she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job." I chuckled before I gestured for him to continue. "Anyway, as you know, after the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."

"Zeus got the sky while Poseidon received the sea. And Hades was stuck with the Underworld." I said.

Grover nodded and I frowned as I said "Why doesn't Hades have a cabin then?"

Grover shuddered and said "He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here…" Grover shuddered again. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."

I nodded not pressing the issue before I changed the topic. "Okay, so we have Artemis and Hera who for obvious reasons don't have any kids so their cabins are empty. What about Zeus and Poseidon? They both had hundreds of kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty now? I doubt they just went and said 'no more kids!'"

Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably as he said "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II was basically a worldwide fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."

Thunder suddenly boomed as I whistled and said "That's the most serious oath you can make." I then frowned when I thought about who I believed my father was and said "But something tells me they didn't exactly keep it."

Grover's face darkened as he nodded. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo- he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia…Well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."

Grover suddenly felt like he was about to have a heart attack as my Killing Intent suddenly made itself known. Although I think he was more afraid of the extremely furious look on my face as I said "So sins of the father huh?"

Grover nodded at the metaphor and said "Children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. Powers that mimic the abilities your people have in your previous life. They also have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."

He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I had watched the valley from on my first night here. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. Their satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others as well. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."

I stared at the tree. I had thought it strange that only a single tree was on that hill and now I knew why. It was a monument to a girl who had sacrificed everything to allow three others to get to safety. It was what a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village would have done. I frowned before I stood up and said "I want to check something." Before Grover could open his mouth to ask what I wanted to check out, I began running towards the hill in the distance. Grover's eyes widened before he began running after me.

I blazed a path straight through camp startling most of the campers who saw nothing but the orange blur of my camp T-shirt as I shot past them. Passing the Big House I put even more speed into my run and reached the tree within a minute. I put my hand on the bark of the tree for a moment before I sat down Indian style and began drawing on nature chakra. As soon as I slipped into sage mode I focused on trying to sense the barrier that protected the valley. Someone using someone else's life energy to add to the barriers reminded me of something Orochimaru would have done without blinking an eye and I didn't like the fact that someone had done it in this realm.

In my mind's eye, the valley and the nearby surrounding lands appeared and I tweaked my senses to sense any kind of energy a barrier would give off. I found it as a complete sphere of energy that surrounded the camp with the barrier reaching down into the ground as well as the sky. It reminded me of the barrier surrounding the Leaf Village before I noticed the energy coming from specific points around the rim of the valley that powered the barrier. I then focused on the tree next to me and had to gasp as I allowed myself to focus on the closest focus point that was pumping out energy like crazy keeping the shield up. The energy looked similar to chakra almost in the fact that it was clearly spiritual energy but I couldn't find a trace of physical energy anywhere near it. Then I saw another image in the tree and I said "Holy Shit, she's actually conscious in there. "

Superimposed over the image of the energy shooting through the tree trunk as it headed to power the shield I saw the image of a girl who looked like she was my age. The girl had turned around from where she had been looking towards the road to the camp as if she sensed me spotting her and smiled with a wave before she turned back to her vigil.

My eyes snapped open as my jaw dropped. It seems that Zeus didn't just transfer her energy into the shield, he literally added her mind to the barrier. The girl was now practically an immortal since she would be watching over the camp for as long as the barrier was in place. I was brought out of my thoughts about how complex a sealing array would have to be to be able to do something similar when I heard a gasp. I switched my focus from seeing energy to regular sight and saw Grover staring at me with his jaw hanging down as he pointed to my eyes and said "What's wrong with your eyes?"

I gained a mock hurt look as I said "Don't you like them Grover?" I then turned serious as I said "Remember how I told you back on the bus I sensed you and Chiron weren't human?" When Grover nodded, I said "This was how. I gathered natural energy from the environment around me which expands my senses and allows me to sense human presences. There are a few other advantages it gives me but those are what I mostly use it for now. It changes my eyes like this since it is actually a technique used by the toads that I used to fight with."

"Oh." Grover said before he shook his head and said "You really shouldn't stay here for too long. Your scent could carry out of the valley and attract monsters."

I nodded and allowed the natural chakra to leave my body as I stood up and followed Grover down the hill. I spared one last look at the tree before Grover began running back to the main part of the camp and I took off after him.

That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual. At last, it was time for capture the flag. When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise "Those are the flags we're using?"

"Yeah." Luke shouted back.

"Do Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"

"Not always, but very often considering who their patron god and goddess are."

I nodded since that made since before I said "So if another cabin captures one, what do you do-repaint the flag?"

He grinned and said "You'll see. First we have to get one."

"Whose side are we taking?"

He gave me a sly look as if he knew something I didn't. The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight and I was reminded of the Leaf's head of T&I Morino Ibiki. He grinned as he said "We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And _you_ are going to help." He then leaned in and whispered the plan to me causing me to laugh before I nodded and told him I was all for it.

The teams were soon announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities-in order to win support.

Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff, but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and do their hair and gossiped. They reminded me of fan-girls but the boys were even worse considering that very fact of what sex they were. No boy should spend at least a whole hour just looking at his reflection in a mirror. I swear I heard one of them singing the "I feel pretty" song as he brushed his hair. Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day and I had experience with fighting bulky opponents. They weren't fast, but they could sure pack a punch, which meant a lot more in this realm than in the Elemental Nations. That, of course, left Ares' cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, and downright meanest kids on Long Island. And probably anywhere else on the planet too if the camp took in half-bloods from worldwide like I believed.

Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble gathering everyone's attention as he said "Heroes! You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets with either blue or red plumes, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal, and armor that looked fit for a roman soldier. I frowned at the weapons and armor that the other campers were putting on. They looked like a bunch of roman centurions preparing to march out to battle. All of that gear was not what a shinobi fought with. We were assassins who moved quickly and efficiently, not part of a war machine that shouted their presence with heavy marching to intimidate their opponents. Sighing I used the transformation jutsu to change my clothes and add a blue stripe in my hair since Athena and her allies were picking up the blue helmets. Everyone saw me erupt in smoke and murmuring broke out when my new cloths were seen. They were the typical Leaf Jounnin outfit consisting of navy blue pants that went down to just above my ankles and a navy blue long sleeved shirt. I had a padded vest on over my shirt and my kunai pouch remained at the back on my hip. The look was finished by a pair of blue ninja sandals and a ninja headband with the symbol of the Leaf village on the metal plate.

I could see Clarisse smirking at me as if I had just made her day. Luke cleared his throat and said "Ah Percy, you may want to wear something that's offers a little more protection."

I gave him a deadpan look as I said "I'm a shinobi Luke, not a centurion. We fight a _little bit_ differently than you guys."

Luke simply shrugged and went back to arming himself. I meanwhile began checking my kunai pouch once again making sure that I had all ten steel kunai and both of my celestial bronze kunai on me. I would have felt comfortable with a few shuriken as well as some ninja wire but for what I had to do tonight just kunai would be fine. It's not like I was going to fight in another war again, just take part in an extreme version of CTF.

As soon as she saw that we were all ready, Annabeth yelled "Blue team, forward!"

We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north. I quickly caught up with Annabeth at the head of our group and said "Hey."

She kept marching although she gave me a nod in greeting. I matched her pace and stride and said "Got any advice for me out there? You've obviously done this more than a few times so you probably know a few things that will be handy to know before the fight."

"Just watch Clarisse's spear, you don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry, you shouldn't have a problem with any of those guys. We'll take the banner from Ares tonight without too much trouble with you with us. Has Luke given you your job?"

I nodded as I grinned and said "Yup. Now if you'll excuse me, I want to go prepare." I shot off ahead of the group and melted into the woods as I headed toward my designated area, a little creek that gurgled over some rocks. I looked around making sure I was alone before I formed a twelve man squad of clones and began giving orders to take to the trees and form a line across the woods and make sure no enemies got over the creek in their areas but to not reveal themselves unless they could knock out their opponents before they were spotted. I kept four of the clones with me as the other eight hopped into the trees and began moving to cover the border. I told the clones that stayed to leave Clarisse to me but any other reds who got close were fair game. The clones each gave me a salute before they took to the tree tops as well getting into position. With my secondary job of border patrol taken care of, I walked over to a tree and leaned back waiting for the rest of the campers to enter the forest.

It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. It was the perfect battle ground for a shinobi who was fighting against fighters who were more direct when it came to their fighting style. I could hear the other campers as they all entered the woods and began splitting up to take their positions. Two minutes later, the conch horn blew from outside the woods. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, and kids fighting. A blue plumed ally from Apollo raced past me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory.

After the kid passed by, it was silent around me for a few minutes and I enjoyed the sound of the water in the creek making its way without a care in the world before my shinobi senses suddenly put me on high alert as I heard a low canine growl somewhere close by. I pushed off the tree and walked closer to the creek as I instinctively went into a stance. I had seen some of the monsters stocked in the woods the first day but this creature sounded bigger than what I had seen that day. Then the growling stopped and I heard the sounds of a big animal moving away.

I stared at where I had pinpointed the creature was before I heard the heavy foot falls of a group of humans coming my way. I spotted Clarisse and four other Ares warriors charging at me and I had to give Annabeth's strategic mind credit. She had guessed exactly how many of her buddies Clarisse would send after me. It actually reminded me of Shikamaru and the plans he always came up with.

"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed as she and the other four warriors came at me yelling and screaming. I could see her ugly pig eyes glaring through the slits of her helmet. She was holding a five foot long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with some kid of red light. Her siblings had only the standard issue swords making me wonder if Clarisse was daddy's favorite. Not that it mattered to me, all five were nothing but barbaric Neanderthals in my book.

I sighed and said "You know, five vs. one doesn't seem very fair to me."

"Like we care! We'll beat you to dust!" Clarisse shouted as they were five feet from the creek.

I smirked and said "You really shouldn't just charge into a fight like this."

As soon as I was finished talking, four navy blue blurs fell from the trees and slammed into Clarisse's friends causing them to fall to the ground. Clarisse skidded to a stop when she heard the commotion to see four of my clones on top of her comrades with one hand holding their chins up and the other holding kunai to their throats.

Chuckling as I pulled out my bronze kunai, I said "It's pretty obvious you've never fought against a shinobi before. We don't exactly care about fighting fair either. Now come on Miss Piggy, let's dance." My words caused Clarisse's head to snap around at me and she growled at me before she rushed across the stream brandishing her spear at me. I sighed again and said "Younglings, always so impatient."

Then I poured wind chakra into my kunai making them glow a light green as they also began to emit a low whining sound. As soon as Clarisse was in range to run me completely through with her spear she thrust it out at me. I put her plans of shish-kebobbing me on hold indefinitely as I spun around the right side of the spear and slashed at the spear with my left kunai in between where Clarisse was holding it cutting straight through it with no problems thanks to my wind enhanced kunai before I continued the spin and slammed the back of my right elbow into her helmeted head. Clarisse stumbled but caught herself before she stared in horror at the two halves of the spear that were sparking at their broken ends.

'Huh, so that's why Annabeth told me to not let her spear touch me. It's a good thing I used wind chakra or I would have had a bit of a nasty shock going through my system right now.' I thought. I was brought out of said thoughts when Clarisse screamed "Ah! You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!" She turned around with rage in her eyes as she dropped the now useless spear and pulled out a short sword that I recognized from Deadliest Warrior as the sword that the Spartans had used. Clarisse gave a roar of rage and came right at me with nothing but murder on her mind. As she swung her blade at me, I jumped and landed on a low tree branch as I put my left kunai in its pouch and started channeling regular chakra through my other one. The green glow switched to blue as the blade of a ninjato formed over the kunai and the whining switched to a humming sound that reminded me of a light saber from the Star Wars movies.

I gave Clarisse just enough time to look up at me before I launched myself from my branch and slammed my chakra sword down on her hastily raised block before I sent a kick right into her armored chest that sent her stumbling back. I followed right after her and slammed a half fisted palm strike into her armored chest putting a small dent in it due to the chakra that I used which caused Clarisse to stumble even more before my round house kick to the head sent her flying into the nearby creek now without a helmet to protect her head.

Clarisse picked herself out of the water with a growl and immediately charged at me again. I sighed before I easily blocked her overhead swing and spun slamming my left elbow into her back with enough force to send her crashing into a nearby tree ten feet away from us. Turning around to face my opponent again, I saw that Clarisse had broken her nose when she hit the tree and she was now even more mad as she stood up and glared at me. She charged at me once more and I sighed again at her seemingly one track mind that a charge always worked. I diverted the thrust she tried this time before I decided I had enough and quickly disarmed her before I cut the leather straps that held her armored chest plate on causing it to drop revealing her camp T-shirt underneath. Before the girl could realize her armor was gone I put two shallow cuts across her front leaving an x before I swept her legs from underneath her. Clarisse grunted in pain and tried to get up but quickly found the glowing tip of my chakra blade held under her chin.

"Don't even bother getting up. You lost this fight the moment you came here." I said gesturing to her friends who were still on the ground with my clones making sure they wouldn't try anything. They were staring at me in pure rage but I didn't care at the moment as I heard the yelling of elated screams and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids.

Clarisse's eyes widened as she shouted "A trick, it was a trick!"

I smirked as I stepped back as I mentally dispelled my clones and said "Yup. Annabeth knew you guys would come after me due to your pride so she put me on border patrol."

Luke ran across the border into friendly territory and everyone converged on the creek as our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.

I watched the celebration for a moment before I heard "Not bad, hero."

I looked over at where Annabeth's voice was even though I couldn't see her and said "Thanks. Your plan wasn't too bad either. Now if you don't mind me asking, what are you using to be invisible? I heard you arrive just before the Ares kids but I didn't see you anywhere."

The air shimmered as Annabeth materialized holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head answering my question. We were about to talk some more when I heard that canine growl again instantly putting me on edge. A howl ripped through the forest instantly drawing everyone else's attention as the campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted in Ancient Greek and I heard _"Stand Ready! My bow!"_ Annabeth drew her sword. We all looked at where the howl came from and a lot of the campers paled at the sight of the creature that had now revealed itself.

There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers. The thing was looking straight at me like I was its next meal. Annabeth moved towards where I was in hopes to help me fight the thing but I was already gone from where I had been standing. As soon as I saw the creature looking at me with such clear intentions I instantly shot at the thing with chakra boosting my speed planning on getting it before it got me as my regular chakra sword turned into a wind sword. The creature's eyes widened in an instant of surprise of its prey moving that fast at it. That instant was all I needed to jump up the small bank and slice the thing's head off much like I did to the minotaur.

As the decapitated body of the animal began melting into the shadow soaking into the ground, Annabeth said "_Di immortales!_ That was a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't…they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it. Someone inside the camp." Chiron said as he trotted up to where I was standing with my wind blade still in existence. He had a bow in his hand and his face was grim even as he nodded to me as a way of telling me that I did good in dealing with the creature.

Clarisse yelled "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

Chiron was about to berate the child when my killing intent filled the air causing everyone to go wide eyed as I suddenly appeared in front of Clarisse and said "My hearing must be going bad. I could have sworn you said that I actually summoned that thing. Tell me Clarisse, why would I summon something that was obviously thinking about having me for dinner? Better yet, why don't you tell us how I could summon it when I was too busy kicking your sorry ass because you are too prideful to not try and beat the tar out of me. The way I see it, you're the more likely suspect considering how you have been acting around me all week."

"Percy, that's enough." Chiron said from where he was standing over us all and I backed off heading over to Luke who had walked to the creek with the banner in his hand forgotten. "This is not good. Anyone who can summon a hellhound will likely be able to summon almost all of the other monsters as well." He said. Turning to me, he said "Percy, can you create some of those clones of yours and have them search the camp? It's possible that a demigod from outside the camp came without our knowledge and summoned it."

I nodded and created twenty five clones which instantly took to the trees as they began the search. Sighing, I said "Well this is has been an interesting night."

The camper's all suddenly gasped and I looked at them before I followed their gazes to the hologram of green light that was spinning and gleaming. It was a picture of a three tipped spear, a trident.

"Oh Styx, this is _not_ good. I didn't want… I had hoped it would be Zeus." Annabeth muttered.

"It is determined." Chiron announced.

All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it. I looked back up at the hologram that was now beginning to fade as I thought 'I knew it.'

"Poseidon, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God." Chiron said.

I looked at the rest of the campers kneeling before me and thought 'Definitely an interesting night."


	9. I Am Offered A Quest

9. I Am Offered A Quest

AN: VNaz123 caught the fact that in my rush to get this story up last night I forgot this one.

I spent one last night in cabin eleven before Chiron moved me to cabin three the next morning. Luke and I spent the majority of that night on the rooftop finally having our talk about how and why I was reincarnated. Luke expressed a deep wish that he had been born in the Elemental Nations since it would have been so cool having the ability to walk on water or travel as fast as a car. He also thought having a crack at one of the tailed beasts would have been fun but I laughed and said that he was better off not having to fight one of those.

Being in cabin three was both nice and lonely. I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, a set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.

But the cabin was empty with no one else to share it with and the members of cabin eleven began avoiding me. Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I knew that they were all talking about it behind my back. The attack, as nonexistent as it had been since I took the creature's head off before it could do anything, had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one, that I was the son of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to get a chance to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.

That was one thing that confused me. After my talk with Luke, I went straight to sage mode and saw that the barrier was still as strong as that morning when I saw it. I even formed a type of mental link to temporarily talk with Thalia through use of images to ask her if anything had breached the barrier. A shake of the head was my answer. When she told me that nothing had crossed the barrier since I had came besides some birds, I left her tree which I had initiated physical contact to help with the link with more questions than answers. It didn't help that the clones I had sent out had searched the camp from top to bottom and didn't find any trace of an intruder.

The other campers also steered clear of me as much as possible. It was so bad that cabin eleven became too nervous to have sword class with me after what I'd done to Clarisse and the hellhound in the woods, so I instead would spar with Luke one-on-one just before dinner. He did his absolute best to push me harder and harder, and wasn't afraid to take any advantage he could to bruise me up in the process. Not that I was complaining considering we both found it a good way to keep our skills sharp. And Luke guaranteed that I'd need every drop of experience that I had now that it was confirmed who my father was since all of the monsters would now be after me.

Annabeth still taught me Greek in the mornings, but I could tell that her mind wasn't on the lesson. Every time I said something, she scowled at me, as if I'd just poked her between the eyes. I blamed the revelation of who my father was since before we were at least cordial with each other. After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself "Quest…Poseidon?…Dirty rotten…Got to make a plan…"

Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear that she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. I wished she would just yell at me or something. I had spent almost the entire childhood of my first life being ignored and I didn't like the feeling a second time.

I knew somebody at camp really resented me, because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the _New York Daily News_, opened to the Metro page. The article made me furious.

**BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT**

Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing after just over one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof seemingly sliced cleanly off the body of the car and thrown ten feet away and a massive hole in the hood of the car that caused it to land in a ditch.

Mother and son had gone for a weekend vacation to Montuak, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and even more blood was found near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.

Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who is very violent and has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools. He also claims that his son took his car without permission on the weekend that the Jacksons left for their vacation.

Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.

The phone number was circled in black marker. I was tempted to send a clone to the apartment to show Gabe just how violent I could be but reigned in the impulse knowing that it would only make things worse. However, once I had mom back I was going to convince her to leave that miserable excuse for a carbon based life form and then make his life an absolute hell with the worst Genjutsu I could now use. Kurenai's hell viewing technique that she had showed me the hand signs for should do just nicely.

The night after I read the article, I had my worst dream yet. I was running along the beach in a storm. This time there was a city behind me that was definitely not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.

About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green. They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.

I had to stop them. Even in my dream state I could tell who the men were and knew that a very bad thing was going to happen if they didn't stop right that instant. I ran towards them but the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.

Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, _Give it back! Give it back!_ Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy. The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.

I yelled _Stop it! Stop fighting! You'll destroy everything!_

The ground suddenly shook and laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice began speaking.

_Come down, little hero, _the voice crooned. _Come Down!_

The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. I took a massive chakra leap back and up into the air to avoid falling in it but a black stream of _something_ shot out of the hole and grabbed my airborne form and then sent me hurtling down into the darkness.

I suddenly woke up in a cold sweat still remembering the sensation of falling. My heart was trying to beat its way out of my rib cage and my breath came out in short uneven breaths. I hadn't felt anything like the feeling of pure evil that voice held since I had to deal with Kurama before we became friends, and this had been at least ten times worse than dealing with an angry tailed beast.

I got out of bed and quickly got dressed. I thought maybe a walk would help calm me down. I noticed that although my body told me it was morning, it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing, a big one. I hadn't dreamed that. As I walked out of my cabin, I saw Grover coming up with a worried look on his face.

When he saw me, he said "Percy, I'm glad you're up. Mr. D wants to see you."

My eyes narrowed as I asked him why.

"He wants to kill…I mean, I'd better let him tell you."

My eyes narrowed even further as I said "Grover, is this one of those sins of the father things again?"

Grover swallowed and said "Please just come with me."

I followed after him ready to rip into Dionysus's tiger striped hide if I was right about my assumptions. For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured most people thought it was a crime for me just to be alive. The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for the simple fact that I dared to exist, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict. Well good luck to him, because I wasn't going down without a fight. And even then it wouldn't be until I completed whatever mission the guy upstairs needed me to do. Kami had believed that I was the right person for the job and I was sure as hell not going to disappoint the person who was in charge of my previous realm.

Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.

"No, it never rains here unless we want it to." Grover said.

I pointed at the storm and said "Are you sure about that Grover, because that ain't no Little April Shower that I see coming at us."

Grover glanced uneasily at the sky as he said "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."

I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley. I bet the barrier had some kind of weather control function as part of its job to protect the camp. Hard to protect a place if a tornado suddenly appears and starts chucking around houses or an earthquake struck and tore down all of the buildings. And lets not get started on hurricanes. But still, this storm that was coming at us looked like it would be the biggest weather disturbance yet for this year. And with freak tornadoes and hurricanes coming and going like New York and the rest of the world was a vacation spot for weather events, that was saying something.

At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins were walking around the strawberry fields making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.

Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheel chair. They were playing against invisible opponents-two sets of cards hovering in the air.

"Well, well." Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity. Come closer, and don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because you were reincarnated and old Barnacle-Beard is now your father."

A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.

"Blah, blah, blah." Dionysus said.

Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.

"If I had my way," Dionysus said "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."

Chiron opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it as I said "I'd like to see you try it. You'd be dead before you could even think of starting the process. In case you forgot, there is someone who actually wants me here in this realm who is higher up on the ladder than you gods. How do you think he or she would feel if someone below them killed me before I could do what they wanted? Besides, I have done nothing wrong. Unless you are so pigheaded as to believe I have committed some heinous crime just for being born to Poseidon. But if that's the case, why don't I go kill those two sons of yours? After all, they deserve it for being born with a god as a father don't they?"

Grover went whiter than a sheet as Dionysus glared at me. Our Killing Intents suddenly erupted full force and slammed against each other as we both began trying to assert our authority over the other. As this was going on even more lightning flashed across the sky.

Our staring match of doom ended when he suddenly said "I'm off to the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose."

Dionysus picked up a card while maintaining his false Killing Intent and twisted it turning it into a security pass. Then he snapped his fingers and the air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.

Chiron sighed before he told me and Grover to sit down. As we did, he laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.

"Tell me Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"

I shrugged as I said "As an opponent, that particular hellhound wasn't much of a challenge since I took it by surprise. But in a fight against another I'm sure it could be a tough opponent. But what concerns me more is how it actually got into those woods in the first place."

Chiron nodded and said "Yes, we are still trying to figure out who summoned it. But I'm afraid you'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."

I frowned as I had a sneaking suspicion of what he was talking about but I still said "Done with what sir?"

"Your quest of course. Will you accept it?"

I stared at Chiron for a minute before I said "Even without you telling me what said quest is, I know that I have to. There was a reason I was brought here twelve years ago. That was the time frame I was given to prepare myself for whatever mission I'm supposed to do." Thunder rumbled across the valley as I talked. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together. Looking out at the scene, I said "This quest, it's has something to do with the fight that Poseidon and Zeus are having doesn't it? They're fighting over something valuable that was stolen and now I probably have to find whatever it was that was stolen."

I felt Chiron stare at me as he said "How did you know that?"

I turned my head to give him a deadpan look as I said "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft. Finally, I've sometimes been able to have dreams that show me things that are extremely important to a mission I was about to go on. The night I came here with Grover I had a dream about a horse and eagle fighting each other on a beach during a storm. And then tonight I had a dream about two guys in togas fighting with each other while one was shouting to give something back. It's pretty obvious in my opinion."

"I knew it." Grover said.

"Hush satyr." Chiron ordered.

"But it's his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be! Percy just said that he sometimes would have dreams that were relevant to missions he was about to take. The same thing is happening now."

"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard before he continued "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."

I blinked and said "You're kidding right? Why doesn't Zeus just grab one of the lightning bolts that's over our heads to replace it?"

"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. Or even about an actual lightning bolt that travels through the air. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."

I blinked again and said "Oh. That might be a little harder to replace."

Chiron nodded as he began getting worked up now and said "Zeus' master bolt is the symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."

I paled at the last sentence since if a weapon like that got in the wrong hands and was actually used it could potentially wipe out a small country and any others around it. Swallowing, I said "Do we have any idea who stole it?"

Chiron sighed and said "Zeus believes it was done by you."

"Say what! But I didn't even know that Mount Olympus was real before you told me about the Heart of the West a week ago! How could I have stolen it if I have never been there?"

Chiron sighed again and said "During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, Taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly-that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."

"But I wasn't even there during the Winter Solstice. How could I have taken it?"

Chiron sighed and said "Patience and listen Percy. Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influences over the makers of his brother's lightning bolt. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."

"Then Zeus is crazy. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have never been to Mount Olympus."

Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid.

"Er, Percy…" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."

"I don't care if he's the Lord of the Kami Damned Solar System, I did not take his bolt!" I said as I began leaking small amounts of Killing Intent.

"Perhaps _paranoid_ is a better word to use." Chiron said trying to cool me down. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam…"

"The golden net. Poseidon and a few other gods trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler." I said.

Chiron nodded and said "Correct. And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along, the proverbial last straw that broke the camel's back."

I frowned as Chiron continued. "Most thinking observers would say that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war between those two would look like, Percy?"

"_Bad._" I said as I thought about all of the destruction such a war would cause.

Chiron nodded as he said "Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions if not _billions_ dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."

"_Bad._" I repeated.

"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus' wrath."

It started to rain inside the valley. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky. I glanced at the storm and knew that Zeus was causing it to rain here because I was here. He was punishing the whole camp because of me. It made me remember the destruction of the Leaf village leaving nothing but a crater when Negato was looking for me. It made me furious.

Looking at Chiron, I said "So I need to find the bolt and return it to Zeus. If I don't the world will pretty much end, but this time there will be no ark to save humanity. Am I correct?"

"What better peace offering, than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus' property?" Chiron asked.

"Gee, I don't know, maybe grabbing the guy who actually did it and pulling him behind me bound and gagged, trying to beg for mercy when I return it?" I asked sarcastically before I sighed and said "Do we actually have any idea of where the bolt is?"

"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago…well, with you here, some of the lines make sense to me now. I have a very good idea where it might be. And if I'm right, it coincides nicely with your want to retrieve your mother. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."

I could tell that Chiron had said that bit about my mother just to get me to agree, not that he had to. I was going to take it anyway. But if it was most likely in the same place as her then that meant that I would be able to go save her a lot sooner than I had thought. Grover meanwhile looked a little pale as he finally realized where we were talking about. I ignored that though as I stood up and said "So I just need to go up to the attic and have a word with a mummy. Yeah, nothing strange about that."

I turned and headed into the house. Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trapdoor. I pulled the cord and the door swung down, and a wooden ladder quickly clattered into place. The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else that I had come to really hate, the smell of snakes. I sighed at the smell and climbed.

The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once bright shields pitted with rust; old leather streamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled _things_-severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969. 'Must have been one hell of a rock concert.' I thought when I saw it.

By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the mummy I had seen when I first came here. Not the wrapped up kind. This thing looked like someone had killed a woman and left her in an oven to slowly dry out. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.

Looking at her up close sent chills up my back and made my shinobi honed flight or fight sense to kick in. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I resisted the urge to rush down the ladder and four flights of stairs as I heard that sound and instead stood my ground as I heard a voice slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain:_ I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python, Approach, seeker, and ask._

I took a deep breath to calm myself as I realized that the mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. I was getting a weird vibe from it but it wasn't the same kind as I got from that Fury that had posed as our math teacher. It felt more like the Three Fates that had been knitting the yarn at the highway fruit stand. Whatever this thing was, it was ancient, powerful, and definitely _not_ human. But it was also definitely _not_ interested in killing me. That wasn't its job after all.

Taking another deep breath, I said "What is the mission I must complete?"

The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with pickled monster jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer, and my eyebrow unconsciously rose even as my fists clenched at seeing the players. It was Gabe who was playing, but instead of his usual poker buddies, Mizuki, Tobi in the mask I had first seen him wearing, and Orochimaru were holding cards.

Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: _You shall go west, and face the god who has turned._

Mizuki looked up and said in the same voice: _You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned._

Orochimaru threw in two poker chips, then said: _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._

Finally, Tobi looked at me and said: _And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end._

I frowned as the figures began to dissolve. The implications of the Oracle's words were not very good. Grover would never betray me. That I was sure, even without the knowledge that a satyr never abandoned their charge. Which meant that someone else would reveal themselves as a double crossing backstabber. There was only one person in this camp who would really call me a friend after everyone found out who my father was and then treated me like I had the plague, but I really hoped that wasn't the case. If Luke was the betrayer than I'd have one hell of a spar on my hands when he did do the deed. That kid was good with a blade, no question about that. I frowned more as I considered the last sentence of the prophecy, _And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end._ No question about what _that_ meant. But if the Oracle thought I wouldn't tear apart the Underworld just to get mom out of there then it obviously didn't know about my previous life.

As I thought about the prophecy, the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy. I saw the tail of the mist snake disappear into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall as her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. I was left alone in a silent attic with nothing but the mementos to keep me company.

'I thought I left all of the FUBAR missions in the Elemental Nations.' I thought with a sigh before I turned around, making my way down the trapdoor closing it before I walked down the stairs. When I reached the porch and sank into a seat at the pinochle table with my head bent down in thought Chiron said "Well?"

I looked up across the table at him and said "She said that I would retrieve what was stolen."

Grover seemed to brighten up immediately at what I guessed he thought was confirmation that everything would be fine on this quest as he said "That's great!"

"What did the Oracle say _Exactly?_ This is important." Chiron pressed.

I was tempted to give the prophecy from Harry Potter but I just sighed again and said "_You shall go west, and face the god who has turned. You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned. You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end._ Bah! Like I'd believe that! If Shion couldn't properly see my future then what does that dried up corpse know about me not saving mom? I'm going to go to wherever that stupid bomb is and kick whoever's sorry ass thought it would be a good idea to steal it before I go marching to the Underworld if I'm not already there and I'm going to get mom out of there even if I have to start World War III down there."

Grover had lost some of his enthusiasm when I reminded him that the most likely destination was the Underworld. Chiron however was looking at me cautiously as if he was trying to figure out if I was in denial or not. The way I talked it was obvious to him that Shion could see the future and I had managed to change said future but he was confident in the Oracle. I was obviously going to have to prove him wrong on this one.

Shaking my head from images of destruction in some dark and lonely place, I sighed again and said "Sorry. You said that you had an idea where the bolt was?"

Chiron also shook his head to clear his thoughts and said "To me it is obvious that the bolt is somewhere in the Underworld. After all, Hades stands to gain a lot of power if Zeus and Poseidon were to have a war with each other. It is logical to assume that he would steal it. And with the part of the god of the west, The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."

Grover paled as it sank in that we wouldn't just be going to the Underworld, I was likely going to be having a 'talk' with the person whose job it was to make sure people died when it was their time. I frowned and said "Grover, are you with me on this? I can understand if you want to wait for another quest, and I'm sure I could do this on my own since I've done S rank missions solo before, but I'd rather have you by my side. You're one person who I know would never betray me and I'd feel a lot more secure in my chances of success if I had someone I could trust watching my back."

Grover stared at me like he really wanted to take the out I was giving him before he took a deep breath, then stood, and said "You saved my life, Percy. If…if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."

I smiled at him and said "Glad to hear it." Turning to Chiron, I said "I'm not so sure that Hades is the one who stole the bolt. In my dream, there was something that felt a lot more powerful than the two men fighting goading them on. However, since there was also a rather large pit in the ground that opened up under me in that dream, we'll follow that route. So where is the Underworld exactly? It's obviously somewhere on the west coast since it and Mount Olympus are opposites, but I can think of three cities off the top of my head where it could be: Hollywood, Los Vegas, and Los Angeles. Those three make the most since to me."

Chiron blinked at my first sentence but nodded at my deductions and said "The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles. You'll have to travel fast to get there from here and get the bolt back and return it to Zeus on the summer solstice in ten days."

I frowned as I considered my options. Taking a train and bus were both not appeasing options. Zeus had already shot a lightning bolt through Gabe's Camaro, what was stopping him from doing the same to a train or bus filled with innocent passengers? No, if me and my two teammates were going to get to the west coast without endangering any innocents, then it would have to be in a way that was lightning proof. Thankfully, I already had such a method available since I had twelve years to prepare for whatever my mission turned out to be. Although I'm sure the others would raise hell about it.

I chuckled to myself as I said "Getting across the country and back in time will not be a problem. We'll be standing on the west coast within four days. And that's only if we sightsee on the way there. We're going to have to make a quick side trip before we can start heading west though." Looking over Chiron's shoulder, I said "What about you Annabeth? Are you going to be joining us?"

The air shimmered behind Chiron surprising Grover as Annabeth became visible as she stuffed her Yankees cap into her back pocket.

"I've been waiting to go on a quest for years, of course I want to come. I'm surprised though that you're actually allowing me to come along considering that part of the prophecy about a friend betraying you."

My eyes narrowed as I said "Make no mistake Annabeth, I only will trust you to come since you obviously do not call me a friend. A friend sticks by you no matter what happens. You allowed the rivalry that our parents have to influence your thoughts about me. The closest to a friend you are to me would be a possible fellow comrade in arms. But because of that, I know that I can trust you enough to allow you to come with me on this quest. And like I said, I'd rather not do this by myself. But make no mistake, before this quest is over, we are going to be having a serious talk about your actions."

Annabeth frowned at me but before we could get into a staring match Chiron said "Excellent, you can head out this afternoon." Lightning flashed over the sky as rain continued to pour down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather. Chiron looked across the camp and said "There is no time to waste. I think you should all get packing."


	10. Who Says Lightning Never Strikes Twice

10. Who Says Lightning Never Strikes Twice?

It didn't take me long to pack. I had taken a pocket notebook when I first came to camp and had drained five pens of their ink and mixed that ink with some of my blood to create sealing ink and I had filled the notebook with storage seals. I sealed the Minotaur horn in the last seal of the note book and sealed my extra clothes and toiletries in the front of the notebook. All I had to do when I left the Big House was take a quick shower and seal my dirty laundry in the section of my notebook labeled Dirty Laundry and head to the camp store where I was loaned one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas.

These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used anything less than pure gold. Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions. He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of something that he called nectar and a Ziploc bag of squares of some kind of food that he called ambrosia. He explained to me that they were the food and drink of the gods and should only be used in emergencies if we were extremely hurt. Too much of the stuff and our blood would literally burn.

Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. It wasn't as easily hidden as any of my kunai were but it was still a good weapon to have. Speaking of my kunai, while I was waiting for the others with Chiron who had taken me to the camp store, I put seals onto the kunai pouch that would keep ay metal detectors from picking up the steel in them. I would have done the same for the Celestial Bronze but Chiron had told me that the stuff wasn't detectable by mortal scanners. Annabeth and I would have to be physically searched for them to be found. That metal just kept getting better and better in my opinion. It was too bad the stuff was too heavy to 'properly' throw further than twenty feet like a proper kunai though.

Grover meanwhile wore a pair of fake feet and pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. The bright orange backpack that he was bringing was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his father had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no.12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded terrible on reed pipes.

Once Annabeth and Grover were ready, they waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the camp, and then we all hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that housed Thalia's spirit. When we got up there, Chiron, who was in his wheelchair, introduced to us the head of camp security, a guy named Argus who supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. He was in a chauffeur's uniform right now so I could only see the extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.

As Chiron was telling us that Argus would be the one taking us to wherever it was I needed to go first and I shook his hand, my ears picked up the sound of familiar footsteps running towards us. I turned around and saw Luke running towards the hill carrying a pair of basketball shoes. I quickly put a smile on my face even as I hid all of my emotions as he shouted "Hey! Glad I caught you before I left!"

Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around, and I smirked once again remembering how Hinata used to act around me.

"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought…um, maybe you could use these."

He handed me the sneakers, which I instantly recognized as must being the magic shoes that he got from his father. Grinning, Luke confirmed my suspicions as he said "_Maia!_" White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels and I let the shoes go allowing them to hover in front of me until the wings folded up and disappeared. The shoes started dropping before I caught them.

"Awesome!" Grover said.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad as you can guess. Of course, I don't use them much these days…" His expression turned sad.

Despite myself trying to keep my guard up in case Luke was the betrayer from the prophecy, my eyes widened as I said "Why the hell not? I mean yeah, _I_ never saw you use them, but I would think having something that could make you fly would be awesome."

Luke shrugged and said "Not really much fun when you can fly circles around the valley in five minutes. Plus I can't really use them outside of the valley."

I nodded in understanding before I thanked him for them. Luke then shook my hand as he told me to bring back some monster trophies. He patted Grover's head between his horns next, then gave a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out causing me to chuckle as I thought 'Definitely like Hinata. I just hope Luke doesn't betray us. I don't think the girl could take it if he did.' After Luke was gone, I poked her in the shoulder and said "You're hyperventilating."

"Am not." Annabeth said with narrowed eyes.

I smirked and leaned over to whisper in her ear "Don't worry, I'll keep the fact you let him capture the flag instead of you to get on his good side a secret."

Annabeth turned red as she began sputtering, finally she said "Oh, why do I want to go anywhere with you?"

She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys. I chuckled and said "Maybe not quite like Hinata was." Looking at the shoes Luke gave me, I frowned. Whether or not Luke was going to betray us, these shoes were bound to come in handy. But considering who my father was and what was going on right now, I'd have to be insane to use them. I grinned as I realized that there was someone who would probably enjoy using them and not have to worry too much about a lightning bolt using him as target practice while he was in the air.

Turning to Grover who was still staring at the shoes in awe, I grinned and said "Hey Grover, want a magic item?"

Grover's eyes lit up as he said "Me?"

I nodded and said "I'm afraid I can't use these considering what's going on right now. But I'm sure you'd get a kick out of them."

Grover looked at me like I had just told him he could eat all the enchiladas in the world and I was paying for them. Pretty soon, we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.

"_Maia!_" He shouted.

He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.

"Practice, you just need practice!" Chiron called after him.

"Aaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.

"Lots of practice." I said and Chiron nodded before he pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. I looked at it in confusion, since it looked like an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.

Seeing my confusion, Chiron said "Percy, that is a gift from your father. I've kept if for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one. Now I know that your fighting style relies more on kunai but since you can make swords out of wind as well I am sure that you can use this well."

So it was a magic item. And a weapon type as well by the sounds of it. Taking a guess at how to use it, I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand besides my kunai.

As I turned the weapon in my hands getting a good look at it, Chiron said "That sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into." Chiron told me. "Its name is Anaklusmos."

"Riptide." I instantly translated, stories of the sword filtering through my head as I continued to study it.

"Use it only for emergencies Percy." Chiron warned me. "As you know, no hero should harm mortals, which is why we use celestial bronze as the main metal for our weapons. Mortals are simply not important enough for the metal to kill. Unfortunately, as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."

I snorted as I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and watched as the sword turned into a pen again. Putting it into my pocket, I said "Yeah well, after fighting a war or two I've learned a few things about avoiding getting hurt."

Chiron nodded before he said "One more thing you should know about that sword. You cannot lose it. It is enchanted so that it will always reappear in your pocket."

I grinned as I said "So it has the equivalent of a self-summoning seal on it. That's cool."

Chiron gave me a few last minute words of advice before he sent me off to the others. When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back and saw that Chiron had discarded his magic box and now stood proud under Thalia's tree with his bow high in salute. I took Riptide out for a moment and returned the salute before I turned to join the others.

I climbed into the front passenger seat and when Argus asked me where to go I said "Take us to Eagle's Roost air field. We need to go there before we can head west."

Grover and Annabeth blinked in surprise and Argus frowned but he started the SUV's engine anyway and we were on our way. Ten miles into our trip, I slipped into sage mode and expanded my senses. I didn't pick up any non-human presences that I couldn't account for and so I let it slip as I said "No monsters tracking us so far. Looks like we'll actually be able to get out of this car without it getting hit by lightning first eh Grover?"

Grover gave a nervous chuckle as he nodded. Annabeth gave me an irritated look as she said "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."

I rolled my eyes at the insult and said "Remind me again why who our parents are makes such a big difference to you? Before that CTF game we got along just fine. Now it's like you can barely stay within five feet of me without thinking up some insult that you want to call me. I'm actually impressed that you lasted this long."

Annabeth had the dignity to look ashamed as she folded her Yankees cap and said "Look…we're just not supposed to get along, Okay? Our parents are rivals."

I turned around and glared at her and said "And why the hell does that matter? Is my name Poseidon? Is your name Athena? NO! We are not our parents so stop being a short sighted idiot and interact with people based on your own observations, not what your mother says. Geez, I know we're not Romeo and Juliet, but grow a spine and make your own bonds because you want to, not because of your parent!"

Annabeth flinched and looked out the window. I sighed and instantly regretted the harsh words even if they needed to be said. Grover meanwhile kept silent although he did pull out an old soda can from his backpack and began nervously chewing on it. When I turned back forward I saw Argus look at me and give me a small nod showing that he at least agreed with me although the frown I could see showed that he thought I shouldn't have been so rough either causing me to sigh again.

The rest of the trip was passed in relative silence with me just giving directions to our destination. I guided Argus back towards Manhattan and had us cut straight through before we came out on the other side. Twenty miles later, we joined highway 278 and rode it for thirty minutes before I had Argus take an exit near a small forest. We turned again onto a road that went between the trees when we came to a sign that was in the shape of a Chinook that said Eagle's Roost. Underneath that was a sign that said Want To Know How To Fly It? We'll Teach You. We traveled down the path between the trees for a good ten minutes before we came into a clearing and I smirked at the widened eyes everyone else had as we finally arrived at our destination.

Eagle's Roost airfield was a square mile big with six hangers in a row at the back and a small office building just off to the side of the entrance to the woods. There were four large helicopter pads in the center of the field with the rest of it filled with grass that was kept at six inches tall. Finishing the look were the six different hangers with a different helicopter in each one. The first one had a Huey followed by an Apache, then a Chinook, next was the Bell 206 model that most people associated with police forces and finally there was a HH-65 Dolphin that was used primarily as a hoist-rescue vehicle. The sixth hanger had its two large doors closed but the others assumed that there was a helicopter in there as well.

"Seaweed brain, what are we doing here?" Annabeth asked with her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

I ignored her for the moment as I told Argus to park in front of the office. As the multi-eyed man did as told, I turned around and said "We're here to collect a favor and our ride. And before you start bitching at me about the fact that I can't go into the air without a lightning bolt shooting whatever I'm in out of the sky, know that such a thing has already been taken care of when it comes to these helicopters. I'll explain everything else in a little bit." Having said my peace, I opened the car door and hopped out with the others following my example.

I walked over to the office door and quickly went in. There was the usual welcome desk that was parallel to the door and I smiled at the young African American lady sitting at the desk receiving one in return as I said "Hey Reese, how is it going?"

"It is going very well Naruto. Your clones have just finished applying the proper seals on the Osprey's rotors last night and we just finished putting them together an hour ago. Our performance checks on them should be done within the next half hour. I'm assuming that the fact you have others with you means your mission is starting right?" Reese said and I nodded to her question and grinned at the excellent timing we seemed to have.

Turning back around to face the others, I said "We seem to have VERY good timing. Over the last few months of this school year, I've had a squad of super charged clones helping modify this company's latest acquisition and they're finishing their work today. With any luck, we'll be able to take the Osprey on its maiden flight to the west coast and back. If not, then the Chinook will serve our purpose just as well."

"What about lightning strikes Percy?" Grover asked as he nervously looked at the ceiling as if one of the superheated bolts of electricity would strike them any moment for even thinking about entern the Lord of the Sky's domain.

It was Reese who answered as she placed a few errant pieces of paper in their respective folders before standing as she said "Thanks to Naruto's seals, any lightning bolts that actually hit our helicopters are absorbed and sent to a special battery designed to store it for future use. These batteries coupled with the expanded fuel tanks Naruto designed with seals ensures that we don't have to make as many fuel stops as our helicopter's non modified counterparts. And his non turbulence seals ensure that the ride will be a lot smoother as well."

"Oh." Grover said already looking a lot calmer. Annabeth frowned and opened her mouth to make an argument but instead closed her mouth since if whoever ran this company allowed Naruto to put these seals on their helicopters then they must work. Reese merely chuckled before she led them back out of the office and towards a long bed pickup that held bench seats in the back and a larger than normal sliding window on the back wind shield. Naruto hopped over the side of the truck and landed on the bench next to the windshield and the others followed while Reese opened the truck's driver side door and slid in. As she cranked the engine, Reese looked over her shoulder and said "So who did the 'guys upstairs' turn out to be Naruto?"

I grimaced and said "The Greek gods."

Reese grimaced at that as well and said "Oh boy, dad's not going to be happy to hear that. He never did like most of the stories about them."

"Him and me both." I said with a frown before I turned as Annabeth poked my shoulder and said "What?"

Annabeth had a frown on her face as she said "Percy, what did you tell these people? And why is she calling you Naruto?"

She flinched as my green eyes turned sapphire as I said "I told them the truth as far as I knew it." Reese chuckled drawing attention back to her as she said "Naruto came to our airfield seven years ago and explained how he was reincarnated in this realm as a favor from the one in charge of his to the one in charge of this one. He also explained that he had only a few years to prepare for some unknown mission and that he needed a support base in case things headed south. Once he proved he was telling the truth, he made a deal with dad. He'd modify our helicopters for us with his seals as well as help fund us and we would give him a lift to wherever he needed to go once his mission began. Dad also threw in lessons on how to fly helicopters since he thought that it would come in handy if he couldn't reach us for whatever reason but still had access to a chopper."

"And how did he help fund you?" Argus asked with a confused frown on his face.

This time it was me who chuckled as I said "I transformed into my adult form from my previous life and walked into the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in Buffalo with a hundred dollars. Five hours later, I walked out ten grand richer with a polite request from the manager to please stay the hell away from her establishment from now on."

Argus, Annabeth, and Grover stared at me with wide eyes and slacked jaws as Reese chuckled again and said "Dad still won't let him play poker with him and the rest of the employees if it's for cash. He'd made that mistake once during our annual poker tournament six years ago and he wiped the floor with us."

"Hey! I gave most of that back didn't I?" I asked in a mock hurt voice.

Reese snorted and said "Yeah, fifteen hundred out of two grand. Just face it Naruto, you're too good at gambling for your own good. On another note, we're here."

I mock pouted at Reese even as I hopped out of the truck as she parked in front of the service entrance next to the hangar holding the company's Osprey. As they approached the door, everyone could faintly hear the sound of shouting over the sound of helicopter engines running. Reese stopped at the service entrance where a large plastic box holding high tech sound proof earmuffs with radio mikes attached to the right ear was bolted to the side of the building and pulled out a set as she said "Ear protection from this point on. Their already set to the right channel so please don't fiddle with the controls." Once everyone had a set of ear protection on, she flicked the switch next to the mike and said "Dad, it's Reese. I've got the original Naruto with me and some associates of his."

There was a moment of silence before a strong voice came over the radio telling her to bring us in. Reese opened the door and walked through with me right after her. The others followed us before they stopped at the sight of four of my clones transformed into my twenty four year old self on top of and along the sides of the Osprey along with a team of two workers performing last minute hull integrity checks alongside them while the two rotors turned in their upright positions causing a mild downdraft. Another clone was visible from the cockpit with another worker, both with clipboards as they ran through a mock preflight check sequence. Four other clones were standing on a balcony with radar guns to measure the rotors' speeds and thermo cams to record the heat coming from the engines. Three other clones came out of the back with another team of two workers who each gave thumbs up to the large African American who was standing in front of the hangar's massive double doors. Said man nodded before he looked at the cockpit and made the universal cut off sign. The pilot gave a thumbs up before he and the clone with him began flipping switches causing the rotors to slow down before they fully slowed to a stop.

As soon as the rotors came to a full stop, everyone working on the Osprey moved the head phones to around their necks with the others mirroring their actions. Then the man at the hangar doors walked over to our group and said "Naruto, good to finally see the original you again." The man pouted as he said "You didn't even come yourself when I called telling we were ready for your help with the Osprey. You just sent these guys." He jerked his thumb at the group of clones who had joined everyone else with placing their headsets on a table on the side of the hangar.

"What would you want with the Boss Richie? He's nothing but a little squirt right now!" the clone closest to the now introduced Richie shouted an I shouted back at him "Oi! I'll have you know I can still kick your ass no matter what size you are!" The clone waved my statement off as he and his brothers laughed before they all dispelled now that their assigned task was done giving me a rush of memories of the group leaving Yancy academy and coming here to help with getting the Osprey properly modified. "Cheeky bugger." I muttered rubbing my head from the rush of memories.

Richie chuckled before he turned serious as he said "So what's the situation Naruto?"

I became serious as well as I said "We got two of the three head honcho Greek gods arguing over a missing artifact that we need to find and retrieve in ten days. Primary suspect is the Lord of the Dead and me and my companions need a lift to Los Angeles to either confirm and retrieve it or to get a lead on where it is if it is not there. Then we need to be back here within ten days with said artifact if we want to avoid a war between said Greek Gods."

Richie's face screwed up in slight disgust as he said "Ah damn it, why'd it have to be the Greek Gods? Those guys were nothing but trouble for mortals back in the day." Annabeth opened her mouth to tell Richie not to say such things if he didn't want said Gods to take offence but a look from Naruto stopped her as he said "Which is why we need to get to LA and back as soon as possible."

Richie nodded and said "Right, well they're no C130s but the Chinook and Osprey can easily make that trip." Glancing over his shoulder at one of the two, he said "The Air Force is still a little jumpy about us having one of these, so I wouldn't recommend taking it on a cross country trip right now. On another note, I was already planning on sending the Chinook to Detroit to pick up some specialized parts. I've got no problem with the guys taking you to LA and back afterwards."

I snorted as I said "Not surprising they'd be nervous considering all the red tape we had to go through to acquire her in the first place. So the Chinook it is, how long before we can head out?"

Richie turned back to our group and said "Give us thirty minutes to gas up and log our flight path to Detroit with the right people and then we'll be go for wheel's up."

I grinned as I said "Great, the sooner we're in the air, the sooner we can come back."

Thirty minutes later, Archie was on his way back to Half Blood Camp and I was sitting inside the Chinook next to Annabeth and Grover as our two pilots, two former Air Force pilots named David and Andrew, taxied said helicopter onto a helipad and performed their final preflight checks. As the rotors of the Chinook began building speed, Naruto clicked the mike on his headset and said "Andrew, what's the eta to our first stop?"

Andrew's voice filtered over the radio as he said "We're heading for Detroit first so we have to deal with the cold front that's currently coming from the north. Even with your anti turbulence seals, that's going to affect our time a bit. At cruise speed, we should get there in just under four and a half hours."

"Roger that." I said before I looked over to Grover and Annabeth and said "Better settle in you two, this is going to be a long trip." Putting action to words I shifted to a crossed legs pose and closed my eyes and began drawing natural energy in order to detect anything coming towards us during the flight. Annabeth and Grover traded looks before they two settled in as the Chinook lifted off of the ground and spun to face the south east before it began moving both forward and up out of the surrounding woods before picking up speed as it reached cruising altitude. We were finally on our way.

It was an hour later when we hit our first snag in the trip. I could sense a massive thunderstorm building about ten miles out and there were three non-human signatures in the building storm, one of which was familiar to me. My eyes snapped open revealing bar shaped pupils as David's voice called over the radio "Naruto, we've got one hell of a thunderstorm coming out of nowhere ahead of us."

I got out of my seat and walked up to the cockpit as I said "It seems Zeus has had enough with letting us travel in his domain. I'm actually surprised he's lasted this long without doing anything about it." I entered the cockpit and whistled at the sight of the thunderstorm that was now easily fifty miles wide and growing. Frowning, I said "Any chance of going around it?"

"Not with how fast that thing is growing. It'll be on us before we can turn more than a few degrees. We're just going to have to weather this." Andrew said even as he took his left hand off of the pilot's main directional controls and placed it against the bulkhead on his left and made a twisting motion. The seal underneath his palm reacted to the motion and I felt the chakra in the seal add more power to the atmospheric seals on the outside of the helicopter. I was about to tell Annabeth and Grover to put on their seat harnesses when a piercing cry filled the air and Mrs. Dodds and two of her friends came hurtling out of the still rapidly approaching storm towards us screaming bloody murder.

"What the hell?!" David shouted before jerking his joystick to the left causing the Chinook to turn in that direction avoiding the three furies who made a wide banking turn and began to chase us as we entered the storm. I made a snap decision and said "Open the belly hatch. Stay on course no matter what, I'll take care of them." I ignored Andrew's shouted "Are you crazy?" and walked over to the hatch that was beginning to open thanks to David knowing that I had a plan and took off my headset as Annabeth shouted "What's going on Percy?! Why's the hatch opening?"

"We've got company!" I shouted back before I coated my body in wind chakra and ran to the hatch before I dove out and freefell for thirty feet. Then I pushed the wind chakra surrounding me out of my feet and I shot towards the three furies whose eyes widened at my actions. That was the last action Mrs. Dodds took since the next instant I was right in front of her with Riptide already out and taking her head off as I shot past her. I quickly threw my feet in front of me and shot back at the other two furies who barely had time to squawk in shocked rage at me before they both dove down to the ground to avoid the same fate as their sister.

I scowled down at them even as a lightning bolt tried to blast me into oblivion only for me to feel it coming thanks to sage mode and I upped the amount of wind chakra surrounding me even as I dodged the bolt by a few inches. Looking up, I shouted "You're going to have to do better than that you overgrown spark plug!" I dodged a retaliatory second bolt before I looked back down and saw that the two furies had come out of their dive and split apart, now coming at me from my right and left as they pulled out whips that immediately caught fire. Sighing, I capped Riptide before I ran through hand signs. Finishing the last one just as the two furies launched their whips at me, I shouted "Try this on for size you two! Wind Style: Shredding Cyclone Jutsu!" The air around me suddenly began spinning in a rapid vortex before said cyclone suddenly expanded and slammed into the two furies. They had just enough time to scream in pain before they erupted into explosions of sand.

I spared a moment to watch the wind quickly disperse the dust around me before I poured more wind chakra down my legs and shot after the Chinook which had continued its path dodging a third lightning bolt as I raced to catch up to it. When I caught back up, I could see lightning striking the rotors of the helicopter one after another only for the electricity to be absorbed by the seals on said rotors. Shaking my head at the sight, I muttered under my breath "They never learn do they?" Zeus apparently heard me because all of a sudden the bolts stopped trying to bring the Chinook down and instead began coming after me.

My eyes widened as I felt the bolts change targets and cursed before I changed my direction and proceeded to dive towards the ground twisting as I did to avoid the bolts coming. I was still taking hits from every fifth bolt but the wind shield around me caused the bolts to fizzle out to little more than static shocks that barely tingled. I wasn't paying any attention to that though. Instead I was more worried at how far the Chinook was pulling away from me while I was trying to dodge the bolts of lightning and how tricky it would be to get back inside with all of the static electricity surrounding me without causing a rather unwanted surge once I made contact. Then I sensed how a bolt of lightning decided to strike the Chinook instead of me and I sensed the electricity being absorbed and shrugged as I thought 'That'll work.'

Plan in mind, I shot back to the Chinook. Thirty minutes later I finally caught up to it and I pulled up along its side scaring Annabeth and Grover as I applied chakra to my hands and latched on. The atmospheric seals along the side that were glowing lit up even more as they absorbed all of the static electricity I was carrying even as I began crawling down to the still open hatch with the lightning bolts now hitting the rotors again. I reached the hatch and crawled inside panting as I finally allowed the wind chakra that had kept my body from becoming extra crispy go. A moment later, I stood up and grabbed my discarded headset and said "David, close the hatch."

The hatch began closing as David said "Welcome back mate." Andrew cut in with "You're crazy Naruto. You do know that right?"

I noticed Annabeth giving me a look which said she agreed and I chuckled as I plopped down in my seat, completely exhausted from playing catch up with the Chinook. Closing my eyes as I leaned my head back, I said "So I've been told. Any sign of the storm ending soon?"

Andrew chuckled as he said "None. Which is why we're currently running on battery power. Might as well use all the juice your buddy the thunder god is so graciously giving us."

I gave another chuckle before I said "Well, I'm going to take a nap now. Wake me up when we get to Detroit." I stayed awake long enough to hear a confirmation before I allowed my body to fall into the sweet nothingness of sleep.


	11. Digressing And Side Questing

11. Digressing And Side Questing

I was shaken awake by Annabeth when we were coming in for landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. I stretched my arms even as I noticed the monster Thunderstorm was nowhere around us and I said "How long did the storm last?"

"About an hour after you fell asleep. I guess Zeus got tired of trying to knock us out of the sky." Annabeth said and I smirked as I said "Yeah well, that's what happens when you try to take down an aircraft that's protected by a seal master." Standing up in order to stretch some more, I clicked on my radio and said "Andrew, how long do you think we are going to be in Detroit?"

"That'll be up to you Naruto. Los Angeles is a good one thousand nine hundred and eighty four miles from here. At cruise speed that's easily fourteen and a half hours nonstop, which normally a Chinook couldn't do but thanks to your seals we can. Sunset is in four. It'll take roughly an hour and a half for the engine parts to be brought from their factory and loaded. After that we can either continue on course and take shifts throughout the night or wait till morning. Like I said, it's your call, but I would go with waiting until tomorrow."

"Noted. David, do you feel the same?" I asked as I gave one last twist of my back groaning in relief as I felt the joints all pop.

"I do. We still have nine days before you need to be back in the Big Apple. No need to rush right out of the gate." David said as the Chinook's wheels touched ground and I saw the two began flicking switches as the rotors overhead began to slow down.

I absentmindedly shrugged and said "Then that's what we'll do. You guys want any help with the parts?"

"Nah, we'll let the loaders handle it. It's their job after all." Andrew said as he began bringing the chopper inside their designated Hangar. Once inside, the two pilots fully shut down the Chinook and exited the cockpit. We joined them at the exterior hatch and followed them out once the door lowered. As Andrew began talking with the mechanic who had walked over to discuss if any maintenance was needed, David began talking with a much more well-dressed man about acquiring lodgings for the night.

I wasn't paying any attention to that though since as soon as the Chinook's hatch had opened, I had sensed something aggressive in the air and the hairs on the back of my neck was beginning to stand up as I looked around trying to find the source. Annabeth noticed and frowned as she said "What is it?" Her question drew Grover's attention and he frowned when he saw the look on my face and began sniffing the air.

I shrugged as I said "I'm not sure, it just feels like the air around us is pissed off for some reason."

"Well we did just get through a massive thunderstorm without any problems." Annabeth pointed out but I shook my head and said "That's not it. This feels like it's coming from someone other than the guy upstairs."

Before Annabeth of Grover could respond to that, David came over with the Airport representative and said "Alright, I've got us one of the airport's bigger rooms to spend the night in. there's two queen sized beds and the sofa folds out so we have enough space for everyone. Naruto, you and Grover well be sharing one of the beds while Andrew and I will take the other. That leaves the couch to you Annabeth. Now, since we won't be leaving until tomorrow morning, who wants Outback?"

All four of our stomachs choose that moment to growl much to Annabeth and Grover's embarrassment and to David and my amusement. We chuckled at the sound and the airport representative had a grin on his face as he said "I think that would be all of you sir. Enjoy your night out sir."

David thanked the man and led us back over to Andrew to ask if he wanted to join us. One cab ride later, we were seated at a table in the closest Steakhouse ordering our entrees. The next hour and a half was spent with Andrew and David telling us about their time in the Air Force and all of the crazy missions they had flown as well as some of the men they had served with. I returned the favor by describing some of the ninja who I had both worked with and had serve under me back when I was in the Elemental Nations. A hour later, we were walking out of the restaurant's doors laughing about the time one of David's squad mates had dumped a bucket of ice on him at three o'clock in the morning.

Our laughter was cut short though when the oppressive feeling I had felt before came back as the loud roar of a motorcycle filled the air. A few seconds later a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant pulled into the restaurant's parking lot and rolled towards us. I rose an eyebrow as I studied the machine coming towards us. Its headlight glared red, the gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather-but leather looked like… well, Caucasian human skin. Then there was the driver.

This guy would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama. He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and had the cruelest, most brutal face I'd ever seen-and I had seen a lot of them, believe me-with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. However, the face had the same features as those from cabin five. This, coupled with the now oppressive atmosphere gave me a very good idea as to who and what was in front of me. As the man dismounted his bike and walked to stand in front of me, I crossed my arms and said "Ares, god of war, I would never peg you as a steakhouse kind of guy. What are you doing here?"

Andrew and David stared at Ares in surprise while said god lifted an eyebrow as he grinned and said "Oh ho, you already know who I am. Sharp little knife aren't you?" The eyebrow dropped back down as he said "I've got a little proposition for you kid."

I rose an eyebrow of my own as I said "What proposition?"

"I need you to do me a favor. You see, I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little…date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."

My eyebrow stayed raised and my arms crossed as I said "And what small detail are you leaving out that prevents you from retrieving it yourself? I was a shinobi in my former life Ares, I can tell you're not giving me important mission details. Actually no, let me take a guess. It is no secret that you and Aphrodite are having an affair. It is also no secret that Hephaestus takes great pleasure in catching you two at it whenever he can. With that in mind, he must have found out about your little meeting with her and set a trap that you managed to detect before it could activate. Which is why you want us to go in your stead. You're hoping we'll trip the trap ourselves. Which either means you know the trap is geared towards gods and nothing else or you want to test me for some reason and this trap is a convenient excuse to do so. So am I warm yet?"

Grover and Annabeth stared at me with slack jaws and paled faces while Andrew and David gave each other amused looks since this wasn't the first time I had metaphorically ripped the rug out from underneath a person. Ares however had a much more unusual reaction. The man threw his head back and let out a loud bellow of laughter that caused the ground to shake like there was a minor earthquake was occurring.

Then his head snapped back forward with a grin on his face as he said "You've got guts kid! And I like that! You are actually right on both points. The trap is set with gods in mind, obviously. But after hearing how well you managed to handle dear old dad's storm on the way here, I wanted to see how well you could handle a situation on the ground." His grin turned more mean as he said "So how about it kid? You get to show me what you've got, and I'll even throw in some information that could help you on this little quest of yours."

My arms dropped as I said "Well any information you could provide will certainly prove useful. That said, I'm not the only one who is doing this quest, so can you give me a moment to talk with my fellow questers?"

Ares gave a nonchalant shrug and said "By all means. Just don't take too long."

Ii nodded my thanks before I turned towards Annabeth and Grover and I drew us into a huddle as I said "What do you think guys?"

"I don't see how we cannot do this for him. I will be the first to admit I have no love for Ares but ignoring a god is a big no no for heroes unless they want that god giving them trouble later on." Annabeth said with a frown on her face.

"I agree. We really don't have a choice in doing this." Grover said while shooting a nervous look at Ares who gave a casual wave that saw him ducking his head back down. Naruto frowned when he heard Ares chuckle at that but shook it off and instead broke the huddle as he looked towards their pilots and said "Andrew, you and David can head back to the airport if you want. We'll meet you back at the hangar once we're done."

Andrew gave a salute as he said "Sure thing Naruto. Come on David let's go make sure the loaders didn't scuff the floor with their lift."

David actually growled as he said "They better not have. Richie had me clean the inside of that chopper until it sparkled just last week." The man proceeded to stalk towards the entrance of the parking lot in order to hail a cab back to the airport. Andrew chuckled at his copilot as he followed giving a jaunty wave towards us as he passed. Once the two were hopping into a cab, I turned back to Ares and said "So where is this waterpark?"

The sun was setting behind the mountains by the time we reached the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D. The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.

Looking through the fence at the sight, I couldn't help but mutter "Not the first place I'd choose for a date." Annabeth and Grover nodded before my face grew serious as I said "Well, daylight's wasting, let's get in there, find this shield and get out of here." I put actions to words and created a shadow clone before I took a running jump and cleared the fence before I landed ten feet past it. Turning around, I said "You next Grover."

Grover took a steadying breath before he shouted "Maia!" and his shoes sprouted wings. He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled on his landing. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing, grinning at me as he did and said "That wasn't so bad."

I chuckled at that before I brought my attention back to where my clone was placing himself five feet in front of the fence with his hands cupped. Annabeth looked at him unsure for a moment before a determined glint entered her eyes and she backed up to stand twenty feet from the clone. Taking a steadying breath, she seemed to count to three before she rushed towards my clone. Once she reached my clone she jumped onto his hands and he launched her into the air, easily tossing her five feet clear of the razor wire on the top of the fence and getting a shouted "Whoa!" in the process. As she came back down to the ground, I took a step forward and caught her under her shoulders minimizing the shock of her landing on the concrete. As my clone dispersed, I grinned at her and said "Now tell me that wasn't fun."

Annabeth blushed a little at how close we were even as a soft "Heh" escaped her lips. But then she sidestepped around me and began walking further into the park as if nothing had happened. I blinked as I turned my head to look at her over my shoulder before I shrugged and thought 'I'll never understand girls.' Shaking my head at the thought, I turned around and followed. Grover looked between the two of us before he fell in step with me as we searched for the Tunnel of Love.

The shadows began growing longer as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions as we went. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit? among them. I chuckled at the last one even as I kept my senses open for any monsters that would take this chance to attack us away from any unwelcome witnesses.

When we reached the Tunnel of Love, I blinked and said "Anyone else think the people who designed these rides were trying too hard?" Annabeth and Grover both nodded in agreement with me. In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl. Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!

Grover crept toward the edge and looked down. He motioned us over as he said "Guys, look." Annabeth and I joined him at the edge and we saw that marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.

"Alright, there's our objective, now we have to figure out how to get it out of there, hopefully without tripping the trap. First things first, let's see what we can figure out about this trap from up here. Grover, I want you to fly up to the top of the tunnel and tell me what you see. Try to see what kind of lanes of fire these Cupids have and if there is anything else that could potentially be used to capture someone. Annabeth, you and I are going to be checking these statues and the surrounding area up close. For now look, but don't touch. We meet up at the tunnel to discuss our preliminary finds. Here, these should help." I took out my emergency seals paper and unsealed a collection of high powered but compact hand held LED flashlights out of the emergency supplies seal and gave one to Annabeth and Grover. Grover took his flashlight with a determined look on his face before he trotted over to the tunnel and proceeded to fly to the top and began scanning the immediate area.

Annabeth took her own flashlight with a determined nod and headed clockwise while I went counterclockwise. Clicking on my flashlight and shining it on the first statue as I crouched to be closer to its level, I frowned as I saw that there was a split line running around the skull of the Cupid. The Cupid's arms also were not one solid piece if you looked closely enough but actually jointed. This and the fact that the bow string was slightly different than the rest of the bronze pointed to the fact that the bow could be drawn. At the base of the statue I saw the Greek letter Eta carved into it. Frowning at the letter, I muttered "Eta, Greek for H. Well if we didn't know this was a trap made by Hephaestus before, we know now."

Turning while still in my crouch, I played my light over the area surrounding the statue in increasing arcs. On the tenth sweep, I saw the outline of a one foot diameter circle that was finely cut in the concrete ten feet away from the statue. Another sweep from beside the circle revealed two more of the circles, one on either side twenty feet from the circle I was standing next to. Another sweep revealed nothing beyond the circles so I went back to the Cupid statue and applied chakra to my feet before I leaned over the rim of the pool and shone my light over the edge. My light hit a mirror and reflected down to land near the abandoned boat and after I saw another mirror on either side I muttered "Well now I know why those two would come here, everywhere they look they would see themselves. Talk about being vain."

I brought my light along the rim of the mirror and noticed that there was an odd shape on the back near the top of the mirror that looked like a very small hinge meaning that the mirror was covering a hole behind it. Preliminary search of the first statue complete, I moved to the second statue and checked to see if there was anything different about this one. Finding none, I moved onto the one after that and repeated the task until I came to the entrance of the tunnel where I used a chakra leap to reach the other side where Annabeth and Grover were waiting. I landed in front of them and said "What'd you guys figure out?"

"Um, the Cupids are lined up so that each one is facing another. I didn't see anything else that could shoot anything though unless all the mirrors are hiding something behind them." Grover said nervously.

Annabeth nodded as she said "There's a good chance that there is something behind the mirrors since there is a whole ring of them down there providing complete coverage around the bowl. That's where I would put whatever I was using to catch a god with. The Cupids appear to have hollow heads implying that there is something in each of them. Most likely some kind of camera to record the activation of the trap."

I nodded and said "Good observations you two. Now here's what I found. Starting with the Cupid, the head does appear to be hollow and able to be opened. Considering the point of this trap, I agree with Annabeth's thinking about those hollows holding cameras. There is the letter Eta on each statue implying that it was put there by Hephaestus as a way to mark his property. Next, the arms of the cupids actually have some hidden joints and the bow string is slightly different to the rest of the statue implying that whatever Hephaestus used in designing this trap to trap Ares and Aphrodite in the bowl, they are used either alone or in combination with whatever is behind the ring of mirrors, which have a hinge on their tops implying that there are tunnels behind them. One last thing, ten feet from the edge of the pool are circles cut into the concrete one foot in diameter. Bearing in mind the nature of this trap, I believe that there are light sources hidden under the concrete there. I did not come across any trip wires or obvious sensors implying that the trap is triggered in the boat." Looking down into the bowl, I said "Like I said, however this trap is triggered, it's down there, so I want you two to tread carefully alright?"

Getting nods from my two companions, I turned around and began making my way down to the center of the bowl and the boat inside keeping my light focused on the area in front of my feet in order to avoid any potential trip wires. When we reached ten feet to the boat, I held up my right hand in the universal sign to stop before I made a slow circle around the boat playing my light over the entire area between me and the boat. Once I had made a complete circuit and had made sure that there were no trip wires on the outside of the boat, I gestured for Annabeth and Grover to join me by the side of the boat on the opposite side than the shield. As they joined me, I shone my light inside the boat and frowned when nothing immediately obvious appeared in the way of wires or sensors. The sight of a lady's silk scarf raised an eyebrow but I ignored it in exchange for focusing on finding the trip wire that I was sure was somewhere in the boat.

Ten seconds later, I let the arm that held my light drop and let out a "Huh." Then I walked to the front of the boat and got on my knees and shone the light underneath. When I saw an extremely thin shadow form, I smirked and said "There's the wire, now where do you come out?" Getting back to my feet, I moved to the side of the shield and crouched putting my eyes level with the shield and shone the light down in the foot space. I smirked again seeing the same shadow that connected the shield to the floor. Gesturing Annabeth and Grover over to my side, I pointed at the shadow and said "See that? That's the shadow of a _very_ thin trip wire that is connected to the shield. My guess is the lightest increase of pressure will snap the wire activating the trap. What I find odd is that that wire could not have been placed until after Ares and Aphrodite came here. Which means that he intentionally allowed Ares and Aphrodite to figure out there was a trap and scared them off long enough to place the trip wire knowing that Ares would have to come back for his shield at some point." I gained a fox like grin on my face as I said "Oh man, I bet a shogi match between this guy and Shikamaru would last for hours, if not days." Chuckling at the mental image of Shikamaru sitting in front of a shogi board opposite of the blacksmith god, I stood back up and said "Alright, now that we know what triggers the trap and what most likely happens when it is sprung, do either of you have any thoughts on how to get the shield without one of us having to be down here tripping it?"

Grover squinted his eyes for a moment before he sighed and shook his head as he said "I've got nothing, sorry."

I looked over at Annabeth who was muttering under her breath with narrowed eyes. However, a minute later, she too shook her head and said "I've got nothing. No matter what I came up with, the trap would still be tripped with one of us in here. Even if we tied a rope around the shield, there's still a chance that would break the trip wire."

I nodded at that since I figured as much when it came to conventional methods of trap disabling. Which left the unconventional. Thankfully, unconventional means were my specialty. Gaining a grin, I said "Alright then, looks like we're going to have to go with shinobi means."

Annabeth and Grover blinked at that and Annabeth gained a frown on her face as she said "And what would those means be?"

My grin turned into a smirk as I turned off my light and lifted my pointer and middle fingers off the handle as I said "We have two routes to take. Number one is we leave the shield in the boat and I hit the string with one of my kunai from outside the circle of cupids, which activates the trap and we let it run through before we come back down and collect the shield." My middle finger dropped as I continued "The second option is that I use the Substitution jutsu using one of my shadow clones to bring at the very least the shield, at the very most the entire boat out of the pool in an instant tripping the trap that way. This way we don't have to come back down after the trap runs through but it also has the risk of tripping the trap prematurely if there are any unknown preemptive measures that could tamper with the jutsu."

"Hm, the possibility of there being such countermeasures is low, but not out of the question. I say we trip the trap with your kunai and wait for the trap to run its course before retrieving the shield." Annabeth said while Grover shrugged and said "Either way works for me."

I nodded and said "Kunai it is then. Well, no point in wasting time so let's get out of here."

Putting action to words, the three of us made our way out of the bowl. Once we were out and behind the Cupids, I made a shadow clone who handed me a kunai earning confused looks from Annabeth and Grover. Seeing the looks, I raised an eyebrow and said "What, you think I'm risking one of my kunai if this doesn't work? No thank you, not when I can use a shadow clone's just as easily. Now stand back, watch and learn." I tossed the kunai up into the air above the bowl and waited until it reached its peak at fifty feet and began to fall before I ran through a set of hand signs and called out "Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The one kunai turned into fifty and the metal blades gleamed in the last rays of sunset before they fell below the rim of the bowl and slammed into the boat and the surrounding area forming a five foot circle of metal. My clone smirked at the sight before he dispelled himself and all of the kunai disappeared into clouds of smoke as well.

The effects of the kunai were made immediately obvious as noise erupted all around us, like a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine. Up on the rim, we watched as the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Then they fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net.

As the net of golden threads was completed, The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras while behind us, the circles I had seen earlier began to rise, revealing spotlights that turned on as they rose casting the pool into false daylight. Then a loudspeaker voice boomed out "Live to Olympus in one minute…Fifty-nine seconds, Fifty-eight…" As the countdown continued, the Cupid closest to us spun around surprising us as the lens turned obviously putting us in focus. My eyebrow rose as I waved and said "Yo." When the Cupid statue made no other moves, Grover and Annabeth calmed down. Or at least she did until the next part of the trap was revealed.

The mirrors surrounding the pool raised on their hinges and the sound of millions of tiny legs moving across metal sounded before hoards of metallic spiders spilled out of the now open tunnels and began crawling at a rapid pace towards the boat at the center of the boat. I had just enough time to realize what that could mean before Annabeth's scream pierced the air as she shouted "AHHHH! Sp-Spiders!" I spun around in time to see her whole body lock up and her eyes dilate in fright before she began to fall backwards staring at the bowl in horror. I sighed out an "Oh brother." as I caught her before I slapped her face and said in my most official Hokage's voice "Snap out of it Annabeth, they aren't real. Besides their trapped in that net, remember?"

Annabeth blinked as my slap and words brought her away from her panic induced state and she blushed as her body relaxed and she said "Oh, right." Then she realized the position she was in, and she blushed like a certain Hyuuga I remembered as she scrambled out of my grasp and moved to the side spluttering out incoherent words, looking anywhere but me and the pool. I rose an eyebrow and let out a chuckle at the sight before I turned my focus back to the pool where the spiders had reached the boat and were now swarming all over it in one big mass of moving metal trying to find something that resembled what they were programmed to target. Finding nothing, they continued searching the target area in a broiling mass that continued to grow as more spiders joined it. And all the while, the booming voice continued its countdown. The countdown finally reached zero and I blinked as a thought crossed my mind.

Glancing at the Cupid that was facing us, I shrugged and muttered "Ah, what the hell." Turning to fully face the statue, I said "I must congratulate your trap building skills Hephaestus, you make one hell of a trap. However, I doubt you ever had to deal with someone like me, which is why those spiders down there are currently swarming around no one and me and my companions are safely outside your net. That said, Ares, you wanted to see what I've got, so watch this."

Turning away from the Cupid statue, I focused my water manipulation skills and searched for the water that I knew was around us. Finding the water that was in the reservoir that led to the Tunnel of Love ride, I drew the water up the tunnel under me and sent a shot of it out with the force of a fire hose. The water shot clear to the other side of the pool where the force of its hit divided it into several streams. I threw both of my arms out and took control of the streams and directed them all to curve towards the mass of spiders. The water streams slammed into the roiling blob of spiders with the force of a Minor Water Dragon jutsu crushing all in their path as they met in the center and exploded outwards from the force of colliding into each other hurling the entire mass outwards. The explosion of water hurled all of the spiders outward and slammed them into the walls of the pool shattering the first outward layers of the spiders into the walls of the bowl, leaving only about two hundred of them still functioning. That didn't last long though as I brought my two hands together joining all of the water back together just over the boat before I clenched my right fist and the water contracted into a highly pressurized sphere. I then let go of my hold on the water and it shot out in all directions spearing the rest of the spiders and leaving pockmarks in the pool. The boat and the lady's scarf inside was shredded beyond any hope of recovery but the shield that we were sent to retrieve wasn't even scuffed. The water that was aimed upwards shot out of the golden net and flew for a good hundred feet before it all fell back to earth. Annabeth and Grover had instinctively flinched at the water rushing towards us but it easily cleared our heads due to how low its starting point had been.

I clapped my hands together in an act of finality before I created a twelve member strong squadron of clones and said "Alright boys, let's get this net off. Try not to damage it too much though, could come in handy later." My clones gave a shouted "Hai!" in response and darted towards the Cupid statues and began examining them trying to figure out how to detach the net. Meanwhile, I turned towards Annabeth and said "Hey Annabeth, got anything you'd like to say to your mom?"

Annabeth looked at me in confusion before I jerked my thumb at the camera that was still on us and she gave a soft "Oh." Before coming over and stood next to me and began thinking about she would say. I chuckled at that before I turned to the clone that was with us as he said "Boss, I don't see anything that looks like a detachment switch. We may have to try cutting the cable." I nodded and the clone pulled out one of its two Celestial Bronze kunai. It poured chakra into the blade causing it to hum before it placed it under the wire right next to the statue and jerked upwards. The kunai cut through the cable like butter and after a shouted command from me the other clones were quick to replicate the results. As the now free net was dragged away to be properly folded and later sealed, I walked back down into the bowl and collected Ares shield which I sealed into one of my storage seals in the notebook I had made when I had first reached the camp. That done, I chakra jumped back to the top and followed my clones to where they had folded the net and proceeded to seal that away as well. Once that was done and my clones had dispersed, I walked over towards Annabeth and Grover absentmindedly noticing that the Cupid heads were back in place and the spotlights were lowering as they dimmed now that the show was over. Reaching their side, I said "Come on, we've got a God of War to talk to."


	12. Pre Flight Fight

12. Pre Flight Fight

I had just caught Annabeth after my clone had tossed her over the fence a second time when Grover shouted "Percy! I smell monsters!" Immediately after, my senses picked up four presences behind me. Spinning around with riptide uncapped and humming with wind chakra, my eyes widened at the sight of the four figures and I began elegantly cursing at Zeus in Japanese.

Standing in front of the three other figures was a monster that had the upper body of a scaled woman and the lower half was that of a snakes. With the three monsters behind her, it wasn't hard to place her as Echidna, the Mother of Monsters. Said three monsters were the Chimera, the Teumessian Fox, and the Lernaean Hydra.

The Chimera standing behind Echidna was easily large enough to step over the chain linked fence behind us with no problems. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. It let loose a loud bark at us and the ground shook from the vibrations it caused.

The Teumessian Fox on Echidna's right was just as big and just as mean looking as it's sibling. Red fur covered in even darker blood patches surrounded it's body which looked like it could pop a balloon at the slightest touch and it's eyes were red with slits for pupils like a certain Tailed Beast I once carried. Its teeth were extremely sharp and the claws were just as sharp and were also very long, perfect for gutting the children it once ate.

The most troubling monster though in my opinion was the Lernaean Hydra who was standing on my right. It may have been smaller than its two siblings, being only about rhino sized like the Hellhound I had faced back at camp, but it more than made up for that size with the eight heads it currently had. I idly wondered what poor sap had last tried to fight this creature before I shook my head free of that thought in order to get a better picture of what kind of snakes it had for the heads. They were diamond-shaped, like a rattlesnake's, and I allowed myself to feel a moment of relief that they weren't black mamba heads before I saw the teeth, rows of razor sharp teeth that looked like they came straight out of a great white shark's mouth.

Echidna smirked at us as she said "Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood, and never with three." A horrible grin spread across her face revealing a forked tongue that slithered out and back in as she continued "It seems that not only have you stolen Lord Zeus' Master Bolt and made a mockery of him by daring to enter his domain, you also had the audacity to claim Lord Ares' shield as well. Lord Zeus obviously can't have any of that, so now we have been assigned to take both from you, preferably by force."

Grover's face had gone pale white in fear and Annabeth wasn't faring much better as she stared at our opponents, probably already calculating how low our chances of surviving a fight with all four powerful monsters at once. I had a much more different reaction though. As soon as Echidna had finished speaking, I snorted and rolled my eyes before I looked up to the sky and shouted "I told you before you paranoid spark plug! I did not take your stupid bolt! I'm on this stupid quest to get it for you since you obviously can't keep track of it yourself! And if you had been watching just now, you would know that your son sent me to retrieve his shield for him!"

Grover and Annabeth grew even more pale while Echidna was staring at me with wide eyes. And then out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky straight towards me. I had been expecting that reaction though and I was already in sage mode as I caught the bolt on Riptide's blade where my wind chakra wasted no time in making it fizzle out to nothing. As Grover and Annabeth stared at me in wide eyed shock, my eyes drifted back down towards my current opponents who all shifted backwards in surprise when they saw my bar shaped pupil eyes and the red pigment surrounding them.

Then I grinned at them, as I transferred Riptide to my left hand and said "I'm going to give you one chance to leave. If you don't take it, none of you are leaving this parking lot alive."

All four monsters shifted back again at the look in my eyes before Echidna scowled and said "Arrogant fool! We outnumber you puny demi-gods and are more powerful than you. For your sins against Lord Zeus we will destroy you!"

I rose my right hand as a Rasengan spun into creation as I muttered "It's only arrogance if you can't back it up. Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!" My arm shot up towards the sky as the Rasengan expanded into a full-fledged Rasenshuriken that I wasted no time throwing straight at the Hydra. Echidna and her brood was at first shocked at the Rasengan, but quickly scrabbled out of the way as the Rasenshuriken was thrown. The low slung Hydra was too slow to move out of the way though and the Rasenshuriken slammed into it before it expanded, tearing into the monster with an uncountable number of microscopic wind blades tearing it apart. The hydra screamed in pain before the jutsu detonated and it dissolved into golden dust, leaving nothing but a large snake head on the ground.

Echidna stared at the detonation site with wide eyes before she snapped her head back forward with hate filled eyes. She opened her mouth to shout at us only for her eyes to go wide again as I appeared in front of her and slammed another Rasenshuriken into her chest. She went flying backwards for a good two hundred feet with the shuriken still grinding into her before it suddenly expanded and tore her to pieces like her many headed child leaving a scaled hand that fell to the ground.

As Echidna's pain filled scream echoed through the air, I dodged the Chimera and Teumessian Fox's fanged mouths before I threw my fists in the direction of both and sent the two flying thanks to the sage mode that was still coursing through me. As the two landed in crumpled heaps, I created a team of four shadow clones and shouted "Annabeth, Grover, take my clones and take out the Chimera while I deal with the fox!" I didn't wait to hear their answer as I ninja jumped towards the fox and threw another punch that the fox managed to dodge in time thanks to the fact that it was destined not to be caught only for the secondary effect of the Toad Style to come into play and sent it blasting away a second time.

As the fox struggled to its feet from the unexpected blow, I capped Riptide and put in my pocket knowing that it would not do much good here due to its length and instead drew one of my two celestial bronze kunai as I fell into the starting stance of the Gentle Fist style Gai and Lee were so fond of using with the kunai in my right hand behind my back and gave the Come gesture with my free left hand that was in front. Assuming that I was now unarmed, the fox growled at me before it rushed at me tearing up the asphalt underneath its paws due to its speed as it barreled down on me with all of the inevitability of a train crash.

When it got near me, it took a running leap and launched itself at me with its mouth open and its claws raised on either side in order to catch me when I dodged. So instead I made a snap decision and stepped into its lunge bringing my right hand forward and my left braced it as I lengthened my kunai with wind chakra and thrust it into the fox's opened mouth. The fox had just enough time to widen its eyes in surprise at the fact that I didn't dodge before my wind blade pierced the back of its skull. The fox's body exploded into dust which blew past me and I heard the sound of something falling to the ground behind me.

Turning around, I saw that it was a fox ear and I picked it up before I heard a pain filled bellow and my head snapped over to where the Chimera was. I watched as the Chimera's tail hit the ground before bursting apart into the now familiar gold dust and the clone that had cut off the tail with Riptide dance out of the way of the Chimera's retaliatory mule kick. Another clone taking advantage of the creature's currently less than steady two foot stance rushed forward and shoulder tackled the large monster sending it sprawling on its side in an undignified heap with a roar of surprise. The other three clones dog piled the goat body keeping it pinned to the ground as the one who had initiated the pile shouted "Annabeth, finish it!"

Annabeth sprinted into position and buried her dagger in the top of the struggling Chimera's head all the way to the hilt and the monster immediately burst apart into dust leaving a lion's fang and dropping my clones to the pavement. As the clones stood up and brushed themselves off, I saw Grover land holding part of a broken handicap sign like a javelin that had some monster blood dripping from the top. Raising an eyebrow at the sight, I sealed the fox ear away before I walked over to the group and said "Good job guys. Why don't get back to the restaurant and get this little side quest over?"

Annabeth and Grover both tiredly nodded and we began making our way back to the Outback, only pausing long enough to seal Echidna's hand and the Hydra's head on the way. 

An hour later, the three of us exited the cab we had grabbed in front of the Outhouse Steakhouse and walked over to Ares who was leaning against a lamp post in the parking lot. The man grinned at us as we approached and said "Well done, little godling, that was quite an impressive performance at the end with those monsters."

I rose an eyebrow and said "You saw that?"

Ares' grin grew as he said "Old Crippled was curious about you and used one of his spy cameras he had in the waterpark to watch you. Now, I believe you have something of mine."

I nodded and took out my seal notebook. Flipping to the right page, I applied chakra to the storage seal on it and with a cloud of smoke had Are's shield in hand. Handing it over, I said "Just so you know, this time you would have been better just destroying the trap. Hephaestus was counting on you to leave in a hurry so that way he could apply a trip wire to that thing."

Ares rose an eyebrow at that and 'hmmed' before he spun the shield like a batch of pizza dough turning it into a bullet proof vest which he smoothly put on. Grinning at us, he said "Well kid, a deal's a deal. Here's your information, your mother is alive."

I frowned and said "I already knew that. I picked up her life signature beneath the west coast the night she was taken. Do you have anything else you could tell us? Maybe where the entrance to the Underworld is or any weaknesses Hades has that we could exploit?"

Ares looked a little put out that I knew that mom was alive but simply shrugged as he said "Can't tell you anything about Hades, there'd be no fun when you faced him otherwise. But I can tell you where the entrance to the Underworld is. It's in a place called the DOA Recording Studio, there's a map to it in this. As for getting in, bribing the doorman always helps." He grabbed a blue nylon backpack off the handlebars of his motorcycle and tossed it to me as he said "Consider that a little extra for your help and the great show you gave."

I rose an eyebrow before I opened the pack and whistled at the sight of five wads of twenty dollar bills that were held together with one of those bank bills that said two hundred on them. Beside them was a rather large pouch of golden drachmas, easily the size of a football, the aforementioned map, and a bag of double stuffed Oreos with a sticky note attached that said For the trip. Closing the bag, I slung it across my left shoulder as I nodded to Ares and said "Much obliged good sir. Now if you will excuse us, we need to be getting back to the airport. We have a long flight tomorrow and we twelve year olds shouldn't be up late anyway."

Ares let out a loud bellow laugh at that before he gave us a wave and vanished in a gust of wind taking his bike with him. As soon as he was gone, I caught Annabeth's arm that was shooting towards the back of my head. Turning my head to look behind me, I rose an eyebrow at the angry look she was giving me and said "What?"

Annabeth continued to glare at me as she said "Don't you what me! What was that all about, 'we twelve year olds shouldn't be up late anyway', huh?!"

I snorted and said "You know a better way to tell a god of war that it was nice talking to him but we have to go? Besides, we do have a long trip tomorrow, so it's not like I lied to the guy. Now come on." I let go of Annabeth's arm and walked over to the curb to call for a taxi. Behind me, Annabeth stared before she shook her head and muttered something about seaweed brains.

The next morning, we woke early. So early in fact, the sky was still grey with false dawn light. But planes were still coming and going as we boarded the Chinook. Once the hatch closed, I used the transformation jutsu to look like Andrew and created a shadow clone that transformed into David as I headed past the strapped down engine parts and into the cockpit, dropping the blue backpack Ares had given us on a seat on the way. Behind us, Andrew and David set down their own travel packs and checked the straps holding the parts one last time before they sat in the seats across from Annabeth and Grover.

Me and my clone sat at the controls and gave a nod to the mechanic at the hangar doors who nodded back as well and pressed the button that would open the hangar doors. As the motor controlling them grinded into action, me and my clone started flicking switches bringing our own machine out of its sleep and beginning the pre-flight checklist. We finished as the hangar doors fully opened and we taxied out onto the tarmac towards our designated helipad. Once there and properly oriented, our rotors spun up to speed and I clicked on my radio and said "This is Flight 234 to Tower, requesting permission for takeoff."

The radio crackled for a moment before the Flight Tower responded and said "Roger Flight 234, you are clear for takeoff."

"Here we go." My clone muttered as we lifted off the helipad and gained altitude even as we began moving forward. We gained speed and even more altitude as we cleared the airport, dropping our transformation jutsu as we did so before shifting our forms until we looked twenty four again with my clone looking like I did in my previous life. Soon the city of Detroit was nothing but a memory behind us as we continued towards the west coast.

The ride started mostly silent relatively speaking as we made our way through the sky, everyone else trying to get some more sleep since the sky was only just gaining a tint of red as the sun began making appearance. But after an hour of flying, my clone seemed to have gotten bored and he unsealed an old style CB radio set complete with headphone buds from his copy of the sealing notebook that I DEFINITELY did not put in mine. Blinking at the sight, I said "How did you get that?"

The clone grinned at me and said "Expert chakra manipulation." At my second blink, the clone chuckled and said "You know how we shadow clones our inherently better at using chakra due to the fact we are composed entirely of it?"

"Yeah." I stated in a deadpanned voice since I had found that out two months after first using them.

The clone grinned as he placed it on the floor and said "Well it lets us use the transformation jutsu on inanimate objects that are formed on us which I did on the copy of the fox ear that was the actual object that came out."

I gave a "huh" at that wondering if any other clones had done that before and I just hadn't noticed due to how many memories they actually gave me and turned my attention back forward as the clone slipped one of the earphone buds into his right ear and turned the radio on and begin scrolling through the channels as he listened to the chatter of those traveling by road. Four hours later, me and my clone transitioned control over to Andrew and David and we went back into the hold, my clone still listening to the radio with one ear.

We found Annabeth and Grover splitting the double stuffed Oreos as Annabeth read her book and Grover reading a few National Geographic magazines he had bought back in the Detroit airport. As we sat down, I let my form slip back to my current age and sighed as I let my head roll back and said "Richie was right, piloting long flights are BORING."

Annabeth looked up from her book and frowned in confusion at my clone and the radio he was holding before looking towards me. Her frown grew as she said "Percy, what's the plan for when we touch down? You haven't said anything about what we are going to do once we reach Los Angeles."

I opened my eyes and brought my head forward as I considered the question for a minute. What were we going to do once we reached Los Angeles? This wasn't like back home in the Elemental Nations where I could just kick down the door and go in jutsu blazing like I used to. Not only did I have Annabeth and Grover with me who weren't shinobi and therefore unable to provide aid on that front, they were also close range and support respectively, meaning I would have to keep an eye on them, or at least dedicate a shadow clone to each. But it wasn't just that either, there was also the fact that mom was down there. If I went in tearing everything in my way apart, what was stopping Hades from killing her?

No, we'd have to do this differently than my usual operandi modus. Which most likely meant stealth, something that I was thankfully very, very good at when I wanted to be. The question was, was it even possible to enter the Underworld without alerting Hades to the fact. Something told me no, which meant we really only had one option. We needed to get in, most likely by bribing the guy up front like Ares suggested, get to Hades, grab mom, figure out if Hades actually had the Master Bolt or not, grab it if he did, and get the hell out of there, pun intended. And if all else failed, I could drop the roof and flood the place with the ocean to serve as a distraction.

Plan in mind, I leaned forward and said "We're going to have to do this Blitzkrieg style. We get in, we find out if the bolt is there, we grab my mom, and we get out as soon as possible. If we wind up trapped, I'll flood the place and we can get out that way."

Grover stared at me wide eyes while Annabeth's narrowed as she said "Your escape plan is to flood the Underworld. That's great and all but what about me and Grover? We can't breathe underwater Percy, and I highly doubt your mom can either. How are you going to even get enough water in to do that? Not even the River Styx would have enough to do such a thing. And need I remind you that the Blitzkrieg utilized armed infantry and tanks? How do you plan to make it work with only three people?"

I gained a mock hurt look on my face as I said "Oh ye of little faith. Annabeth, I was the best user of the wind element back when I was in the Elemental Nations and am now a Son of Poseidon. If I want to tear a whole in the roof of the Underworld and let a bit of water in to make an escape, I will do so. And as for you, Grover, and mom, it's actually not that hard to create and maintain air pockets if you do it in an open atmosphere. Trust me, one way or another, we'll be leaving that place in one piece. The amount of damage done to the Underworld however is completely up to if Hades cooperates or not. As for the needed support," Here My face gained the grin all pranksters recognized as I said "You let me worry about that."

Grover stared at me in awe while Annabeth frowned before she went back to her book. I sighed at that before I perked up as David said over the radio "Hey Naruto, if you do decide to flood the Underworld, could you do David's place next?"

"Hey!" David shouted causing me and Andrew to laugh. Annabeth rolled her eyes and muttered boys, while Grover let out a strained chuckle. I leaned back with a sigh and closed my eyes to take a nap. After all, I still had the last stretch of the flight to make.

The last rays of sunset were just disappearing when we landed at the Bob Hope Airport. It wasn't the mainstream airport like the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County airport was, dealing mainly with local flights, meaning smaller aircraft, but that was actually a good thing since there would be a lot less people spending the night meaning we would be getting our own rooms instead of all of us having to share one. Also unlike the Los Angeles International Airport, it was only fifteen miles away from the center of Los Angeles opposed to the nineteen miles to the city that the international airport was.

As me and my clone taxied into the hangar we were assigned, I sighed and said "Well, the easy part of this quest is over. Now we just need to get into the Underworld, grab mom and the Master Bolt if it's there, and get back home."

The clone chuckled and said "I'm sure you all will come out of this grinning boss. Still, best get a good night's sleep tonight." The clone flicked the last switch needed to shut down the Chinook before he gave a jaunty wave and dispelled, giving me his memories. Exiting the cockpit, I put a grin on my face and said "Welcome ladies, gentlemen, and Satyrs, to the City of Angels."


	13. Subterranean Explorations

13. Subterranean Explorations

The day after our arrival to Las Angeles, me and my two fellow questers grabbed a cab and had it drop us off five blocks away from the entrance to the Underground that had been marked on the map Ares gave me. The cab driver was a bit uncertain about letting us out in this part of the town but one look at the ten steel kunai I had on me convinced him that I could take care of myself and knew what we were getting into. So with a half cheerful good luck, the driver let us out after I paid him and made his way back to the more cleaner parts of the city.

We normally would have made good targets for the locals considering we just looked like three twelve year old kids lost in the bad part of town. Two things kept most of the would be thugs and other lowlifes away from us. One was the fact that while Annabeth and Grover were both nervous, I was walking with the confidence of a Shinobi who had lived for over ten decades and had won countless battles and no one was willing to mess with someone with that much confidence in their stride even if said someone appeared to be a middle school student. Second was the low level Killing Intent that I was letting out to prevent anyone from getting ideas which only added to the effect of the first.

Unfortunately, a group of idiots apparently didn't listen to their instincts as much as they should. As we passed a dark alley, a voice called out "Hey, you." I stopped and looked into the alley and rose an eyebrow as six white kids in expensive looking clothes and mean looks came out and surrounded us. Rich kids trying to be mean, the lot of them. Annabeth and Grover went back to back with me ready for anything even if Grover was biting his lip with nervousness and I allowed a part of me to approve of their actions even as I kept my eye on who I assumed to be the leader of this group of miscreants.

Eyebrow still raised, I said "Can we help you?"

"Yeah, you can help us by giving us all of your cash and your little lady friend can come hang out with us." The kid in front of me said with what he probably thought was a smug smirk on his face while his five buddies all chuckled.

I put a finger to my chin as if thinking about it as I said "Hm, I think we'll pass on that actually."

The kid's smirk turned into a frown as he pulled out a switchblade knife and opened it as he said "I wasn't asking. Now fork over all your cash before I introduce you to my good friend here."

I gave the knife in the kid's hand a bored look as I said "Kid, you need to get out more. That's not a knife you want to threaten someone with." Reaching into my kunai pouch, I pulled one of my steel kunai out and said "This is a knife you threaten someone with." All of the kids took a step back at the deadlier knife that was easily and inch longer and three times wider than the knife in the leader's hand.

The kid warily stared at the knife in my hands before the fact that we were outnumbered two to one gave him courage as he said "Get 'em!" And charged me. I sighed in annoyance as he thrust forward with his knife which I stopped by grabbing his wrist with my off hand before I raked my kunai across his hand. As the kid screamed in pain and dropped the knife, I stepped back and round house kicked him in the chest sending him flying before I kicked out again knocking the second kid who tried to rush me flat on his ass with a broken nose. Behind me, Annabeth broke the arm of the first kid who tried to grab her and kicked the next kid in the groin sending him to the concrete. I saw out of the corner of my eye Grover dodge the kid who lunged at him before he pinched a pressure point on the kid's neck instantly sending him to la la land. The final kid stared at Grover in wariness before his eyes darted over his buddies. Deciding to cut his losses, the kid turned and bolted like he had a Rottweiler chasing him. The leader of the group began getting up but stopped when my kunai embedded itself hilt deep into the asphalt between his legs. He stared at the kunai for a moment before his eyes raised to look at me and he paled at the sight of four more of the ninja blades that were held between the fingers of my right hand.

That was more than enough for him to decide now was a good time to do like his friend and he quickly scrabbled away from the kunai in the asphalt before he turned and bolted as well leaving four guys on the ground, three of them whimpering in pain.

We left them there as I retrieved my kunai and continued toward the studio. If those kids wanted to play at being muggers than they could play at being victims too. After that, everyone else avoided eye contact even more which had made me smirk. That smirk faded though when we reached Valencia Boulevard and my eyes landed on the studio. The building was made out of black marble and DOA RECORDING STUDIOS etched in golden letters over the glass front of the studio which had NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING. on the doors. The lobby was packed full of people with a tough looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece sitting behind the security desk.

We walked in and I got a better look at the guy, who's desk was on a raised podium, thus making everyone have to look up at him. He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag that said Charon.

I shifted my eyes around after studying the Ferryman of the Underworld to get a better picture of the entrance to said Underworld. Music was playing softly on hidden speakers, the carpet and walls were steel grey, and pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, talked, or did much of anything really, but what could expect when they were all dead. Out of the corner of my eye, I could them all just fine, but If I tried looking at them head on trying to focus on the one in front of me, they took on a transparency that allowed me to see right through them. It reminded me of the bridge in the first Indiana Jones movie that served as the third test to reach the Holy Grail, you had to be looking at them at an angle to see them.

I repressed a shiver at being so close to ghosts, my phobia of them from early in my first life not completely cured even after all this time. Instead, I strode purposefully towards the security desk. Once there, I said "Charon." Said security guard looked up and seemed to blink at me from behind his glasses as he drawled "Yes? Can I help you little ones?"

I nodded and said "Yeah, you can. Me and my friends need to get to the Underworld, and we're willing to pay for the journey." Taking my backpack off my shoulders and opening the zipper, I reached in and lifted the bag of Drachmas out and shook them making the golden coins clink. Seeing Charon's focus sharpen upon hearing the sound and recognizing what made said sound, I said "We'll pay even more for your discretion in this matter."

Charon's eyes narrowed at my words and he growled "Do you think I can be bought little godling?"

I smirked and said "Everyone can be bought good sir, you just need to find the right price." I glanced at his obviously expensive Italian suit and then back at his sunglasses with a raised eyebrow. Opening the pouch, I dipped my hand in and brought out a fistful of gold coins before letting them slip back into the pouch and said "I reckon you could buy quite a bit with all this gold. So how about it? Three spots on your ferry and your silence for this pouch."

Charon stared at the bag for a moment debating with himself the pros and cons of letting three non-dead people on his boat in exchange for all that gold. In the end though, I was right, everyone has their price, and apparently I had met it. Charon grinned at me and said "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you three and be off."

He stood up from his desk and I happily handed over the sack of golden coins before following him as he made his way to the elevator, pushing the spirits who tried to grab us away while Charon muttered "Free loaders." Once there, Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the lobby and said "Right. Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone, and if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?" He then shut the doors before putting a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend.

"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" Annabeth asked.

"Nothing." Charon said.

"For how long?"

"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous."

"Oh, that's…fair." Annabeth said frowning.

Charon raised an eyebrow but it was me who answered as I sighed and said "Death is hardly ever fair Annabeth. I've seen enough of it to know that."

Charon turned his raised eyebrow towards me and said "Have you now? And just how would someone your age have seen so much death little godling?"

I met his stare head on as my eyes shifted from sea green to sapphire blue. Charon's eyebrow rose even higher as I said "In my previous life I was a member of a military organization called shinobi. We were not exactly the most peaceful people."

Charon gave a soft hum at that before his attention shifted back forward as the elevator stopped descending and began moving forward. The air around us tuned misty and the spirits around us started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered, turning into gray hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began swaying as it turned into a wooden barge. At the same time, Charon's creamy Italian suit shifted in a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses also disappeared. Where his eyes should've been were empty sockets that were totally dark, full of night and death and despair. His flesh became transparent, letting me see straight through to his skull.

He pulled out a large pole from somewhere and dipped it into the water now surrounding us drawing my attention to the river we were on. And what a river, dark and oily, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger things-plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

"The River Styx," Annabeth murmured. "It's so…"

"Polluted," Charon said. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across-hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

"Ever consider having some of the souls come out here in a barge and clean it up?" I asked.

"We have some of the souls who were in waste management in life come clean it twice every year. But so many of you humans have been dying daily that the results are negligible." Charon said with his skeleton mouth somehow giving off the impression of a frown and I dropped the matter.

Mist curled off the filthy water as we passed through. Above us, almost lost in the gloom was a ceiling of stalactites while up ahead the far shore glimmered with greenish light, the color of poison. Annabeth suddenly grabbed hold of my hand and I when I turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow I saw that her skin was pale and she was slightly trembling from fear. Seeing Grover was doing little better, I sighed before I briefly flared my chakra which pushed back most of the feelings of doom and gloom much like how Kakashi-sensei had done to thin out Zabuza's mist. Annabeth and Grover gave me thankful looks, but I simply turned back forward.

The shoreline of the Underworld was now in clear view of the ferry. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland about a hundred yards to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as we could see. A sound came from somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones-the howl of a large animal.

"Old Three-Face is hungry, bad luck for you, godlings." Charon said with a smile.

"Wouldn't be the first time I've had complications on a mission." I muttered and I swear the part of Charon's skull over his eyebrow shifted, like the walking skeleton was raising an eyebrow at me.

The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand and the dead began to disembark. A woman holding a little girl's hand, and old man and woman hobbling along arm in arm, a boy no older than I was shuffling silently along in his gray robe. As me, Annabeth, and Grover stepped off the ferry Charon said "I'd wish you luck, mate, but there isn't any down here." I gave him a nod which he returned before he took up his pole and began heading back to the world of the living, warbling something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he did. As he faded from view the three of us turned around and followed the spirit to the gates that were ahead of us.

I really held no preconceptions about what the actual gates would look like before coming to the Underworld since all that had been waiting me the first time I died was a white expanse and Kami, but even I was surprised at what form they took. The entrance looked like some kind of cross between airport security and the Jersey turnpike. I blinked at the sight, shook my head hard and blinked five more times as I took in the fact that if not for all of the doom and gloom around us the Entrance to the Underworld could have just as well been the entry to Disneyworld.

There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass-through metal detector with security cameras mounted on top. Beyond this were tollbooths manned by black-robe ghouls like Charon. The dead queued up in three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line were moving right along. The other two were crawling.

Meanwhile, the sound of the hungry animal howling was continuing to echo around us, but I couldn't actually see where it was coming from yet. I thought it was in front of us, but there wasn't any visual sign of the Cerberus. Unfortunately, until I could see the dog, I couldn't initiate the next part of my Blitzkrieg plan. So when the thing suddenly appeared fifty in front of us after moving, and thus drawing attention to its semitransparent form, I was relieved. That relief quickly turned into amusement as I said "The Cerberus is a Rottweiler? Did they even have those in Ancient Greece?"

Annabeth gave a who knows shrug even as she and Grover wearily looked at the Cerberus who was staring back at us like we would make a good meal. Swallowing, Annabeth said "You've got a plan for that thing right?"

Said thing was twice the size of a wooly mammoth, but the dead walked right up to him-no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him while the EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching.

Despite having all three heads focused on us, I smirked and said "Oh yeah, I've got a plan for that big fur ball." Said fur ball snarled at us but I just kept smirking at it. The dog saw this and the head on the right cocked to the side in confusion. Smirk widening, I said "You think this guy's big? Wait till you see what I bring to the floor."

I suddenly flared my chakra to the point it became a fifty foot tall bonfire around me startling everyone around me including the Cerberus before I pushed all of the gathered chakra into a shadow clone which grinned like a shark that just had the underwater equivalent of a turkey placed in front of it as it deliberately made a set of hand signs and shouted "Transform!" There was an explosion of smoke that covered the whole are and Grover and Annabeth began coughing as it slowly dispersed. Then theirs and everyone else's eyes widened at what now stood over our heads: a one hundred foot tall at the shoulder orange furred nine tailed fox. A nine tailed fox that was showing all of its teeth at the Cerberus it was currently grinning down at.

The clone Kyuubi's grin was sadistic as it said to the dog in a voice that was exactly like Kurama's "Hey there little doggy, want to play?"

Said doggy had just enough time to get an "Oh Shit!" look on all three faces before I shouted "Get him!" and the clone shot a paw forward and slammed it into the Cerberus sending it crashing through the gates completely ruining them and crushing all of the spirits in the area as he went, which hissed like air out of a balloon as they burst into smoke. My clone looked down between his legs at us and said "Good luck boss." The next instant, he was right by the Cerberus and picking him up by the scruff of the middle head's neck and began shaking it around for a good twenty seconds before he let go and threw the large dog further into the Underworld. As the security forces in the surrounding area finally gathered their wits and began calling for backup and rushed him, the clone swept a tail forward and sent them all flying as well. The clone let out a loud howl making the whole area shake before he took off further into the Underworld to wreak even more havoc.

I followed right behind it with Grover and Annabeth under an arm each before we passed the bottleneck the entrance formed and shot into the Fields of Asphodel in order to get my bearings and hand low while my clone continued to tear the place apart drawing as much attention as it could towards it. Reaching the fields and stopping next to a really old and dead tree, I set Annabeth and Grover down as I said "Not bad for a distraction eh?"

Grover's eyes were on my clone as he stared in awe as said clone was swatting whole packs of hell hounds away from him like they were nothing but flies to him. Other monsters were thrown around the same way and it seemed like nothing could touch the guy let alone hurt him, which was why I had him go tailed beast in the first place, since even if he did get hit, with how big he was, it'd have to be a really big hit to dispel him. Annabeth tore her eyes away from the sight and instead stared at me in disbelief as she whisper shouted "That's a distraction?! What the hell is a full on attack for you?! No, no, don't tell me, I don't want to know."

I laughed at that before I turned my focus towards a palace of glittering black obsidian that I could just barely see on the horizon with chakra augmented eyes. As I did, a semi familiar screech filled the air as the Three furies rushed away from the palace and towards my clone, brandishing their fiery whips as they shot at him. My clone raised its head to look towards them before it went back to playing crush the ant. This seemed to infuriate the furies who put on a burst of speed and sent their whips at him as soon as they were in range. Or at least they started too, only to be swatted out of the sky in an almost carefree manner by the closest tail.

I shook my head at that sight and said "Come on, we need to stop wasting time and get to Hades' palace." I put action to words and began running. Grover and Annabeth quickly followed and we soon put the ongoing fight between my clone and the forces of the Underworld far behind us. We were making good time with the palace now only about ten miles away when something bad happened like it inevitably did during my missions.

We were just passing a large hill leading down to a tunnel that was seriously making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and do the Tango when Luke's shoes suddenly sprouted wings and yanked Grover off his feet with a yelp. I did a turning skid stop just in time to see Grover shoot down the hill and into the tunnel at a good forty miles per hour with him screaming the whole way.

My eyes widened before I poured chakra down my legs and shot after him, Annabeth going into a full on sprint behind me trying to catch up to the two of us. As I did my best to close the distance between me and Grover, I saw a massive black pit up ahead and my blood ran cold as I instinctively knew where that pit led to. My eyes narrowed as I ran even faster before I lounged towards Grover's form and managed to grab the collar of his shirt fifteen feet from the edge. As soon as my body hit the gravel of the tunnel floor, I poured chakra out of my body and sent it down to latch onto the rocky ground beneath it. We managed to skid to a stop five feet away from the rim of the hole, Grover's shoes kept going though and popped off his feet and darted down into the pit.

As I got up and helped Grover to his feet I muttered "You know, sometimes I hate it when I'm right."

Grover gave me a confused look but his attention was drawn by Annabeth as she shouted "Guys!" Coming to a stop next to us and panting, she said "We need to get out of here! This place is-"

She cut herself off when I raised my right hand. I turned my head towards the pit where a deep voice was whispering. As the whispering grew to a mutter, I frowned and said "I've lived for a hundred and ten years now and never in any of those years has hearing a voice from a deep pit ever been a good thing. Let's move."

Annabeth and Grover didn't need telling twice and the two were quick to turn around and make a sprint for the exit. I gave one last look into the pit and followed after them. As I did, the voice got louder and angrier behind us. Then, a cold blast of wind pulled at our backs, as if the entire pit were inhaling. Instinctively knowing just what was causing the wind, I shouted at Annabeth and Grover to keep moving before I spun around and blitzed through hand signs as I shouted "Wind Style: Grand Wind Dragon Jutsu!"

The air around me surged together to form a large wind dragon that filled the entire tunnel in front of me. The voice stopped its chant as the jutsu let loose a loud roar that shook the surrounding area before it shot straight down the pit. I didn't stick around to hear if the jutsu actually hit anything. Instead, I turned back towards the entrance and bolted. As I did, I heard a wail of outrage come from deep in the tunnel. I chuckled and muttered "Old Grandpa must really have wanted a family reunion."

When I exited the tunnel, I saw Grover and Annabeth waiting next to a poplar at the top of the hill. Ninja jumping to them, I said "Grover, are you alright? That rush down there didn't break anything did it?"

Grover shook his head in the negative but kept his wide eyes on the tunnel entrance as he said "I don't understand, the shoes just sprouted their wings and took off with a mind of their own. Why would they do that?"

I sighed and said "It would appear that I was right when I thought that Luke was the one who would betray us."

Annabeth's eyes snapped over towards me in disbelief as she said "What? But that's impossible! Percy, I've known Luke for seven years, he wouldn't have betrayed us like this!"

I sighed again and said "Annabeth, remember the prophecy the oracle gave me? _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. _After the attack by the hellhound and my claiming during the CTF game, besides Grover here, only Luke would still willingly associate with me. And let's not forget whose shoes Grover was just wearing, Luke's. And let's also not forget that Luke wanted me to be the one wearing them. If I had been wearing them when they took off like that, I don't know if I would have been able to get them off in time before I fell into the pit. No, Luke is the betrayer, the only question is if he is the one who stole the Lightning Bolt as well or is working with someone who did. Also, we still need to verify if the bolt has been sent down here and-"

I trailed off with a frown as I suddenly realized that something felt off with the backpack on my shoulders. I shifted my shoulders trying to figure it out drawing confused looks from Annabeth and Grover before my frown grew as I realized that sometime during my time in the tunnel it had gotten heavier for some reason. Taking the pack off and ripping open the zipper, my frown grew into a scowl as I said "Well now, it looks like we know who the god who turned is." Sitting inside the blue nylon back pack that Ares had given me was a two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy.

Grover and Annabeth had wide eyes as they stared at it. Annabeth stuttered out "Z-Zeus' Master Bolt! Bu-but how did it get there? It wasn't there before!"

"It must have been summoned somehow when I entered the tunnel. We had ways to summon things back in the Elemental Nations, it would not surprise me if a magical equivalent was used to do the same now." I said as I placed the pack on the ground and took out my seal notebook. Flipping to an empty seal, I said "Regardless of how it actually got here, we cannot allow Hades or anyone else to obtain it. I've seen the destruction a Tailed Beast back home could cause, and it was not pretty. This thing could easily cause a hundred times more damage. That kind of power could seriously rewrite the lines on the globe if it is abused." Sealing the Master Bolt in the notebook, I then took out my emergency seals paper and sealed the notebook in the one that held my sleeping bag.

Security measures for keeping the bolt out of the wrong hands taken care of, I zipped the back pack closed and slung it over my shoulders and said "We may have the Master Bolt now guys, but we can't leave just yet. Hades still has my mother, and I'm not leaving this place without her, prophecy from the Oracle be damned."

Annabeth nodded believing that I could get her back after seeing everything I had done up to this point. Grover gave scared gulp but nodded as well. I gave them a nod of my own before I turned my gaze onto the obsidian palace where my next objective waited.


	14. Underworld Demonlitionist

14. Underworld Demolitionist

My Kyuubi clone was still destroying anything and everything around it as it held off the veritable army of monsters and security forces that was now up against it as we made our way to Hades' palace. I wondered how long it would take for Hades himself to come out and deal with the supposed creature. Considering the ongoing battle between the clone and the forces of the Underworld was now reaching the hour mark, I was kind of surprised he hadn't yet. Of course, the only way I knew that was because the strongest feeling of power was still in the palace, a power that was similar to what I had felt from Ares back in Detroit.

As we came within half a mile of the palace, I paused for a moment and calmly collected the needed natural energy for sage mode. As my pupils became bar shaped and red pigment surrounded my eyes, I verified that the strongest presence in the area we were in was in the palace and not fighting my clone. I gained a grim smile on my face when I picked up my mom's presence right next to said god. It seemed that Hades was expecting me.

Still grinning, I said "It looks like Hades is waiting for us. Let's not keeping him waiting. But first, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Sixteen clones came in existence surrounding us in a diamond formation of four teams of four, all already in sage mode, startling Annabeth and Grover as they jumped from their sudden appearance. Honor Guard in place, we continued moving towards the palace. As we got closer, more details of the palace began becoming visible.

The parapets nearly reached the ceiling of the underworld and had numerous bolt holes where someone could shoot anything from a long bow to a RPG out of. The outer walls of the fortress glittered black, and the two story-tall bronze gates stood wide open. Up close, I saw that the engravings on the gates were scenes of death. Some were from modern times-an atomic bomb exploding over a city, a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims waiting with empty bowls-but all of them looked as if they'd been etched into the bronze thousands of years ago. It made me wonder if they were prophecies that had come true.

Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden I'd ever seen. Multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and weird luminous plants grew without sunlight. Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers, piles of rubies as big as my fist, clumps of raw diamonds. Standing here and there like frozen party guests were garden statues of children, satyrs, and centaurs, all of which were smiling grotesquely. I frowned at the sight of them, recalling one obscure legend which said that Hades had once bought some of the people who Medusa had turned into statues in order to decorate his garden for Persephone. Looked like it wasn't just a legend after all.

In the center of the garden was an orchard of pomegranate trees, their orange blooms neon bright in the dark. "The garden of Persephone, keep walking." Annabeth said.

I understood why she wanted to move on. The tart smell of those pomegranates was almost overwhelming, especially with my advanced sense of smell that seemed to have carried over from my previous life. I had a sudden desire to eat them, but I remembered the story of Persephone. One bite of Underworld food, and we would never be able to leave. I pulled Grover to my side when he gave a particularly big and juicy looking one a hungry look.

We walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico, and into the house of Hades. The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above. I guess they never had to worry about rain down here.

Every side doorway was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. Some wore Greek armor, some British redcoat uniforms, some camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears or muskets or M-16s, depending on their time period. None of them bothered us, but their hollow eye sockets followed us as we walked down the hall, toward the big set of doors at the opposite end. Two U.S. Marine skeletons guarded the doors. They grinned down at us, rocket-propelled grenade launchers held across their chests.

"You know," Grover mumbled, "I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmen."

Me and my clones all snorted at that before I turned my head towards the skeleton on the right since it's rank markings on the shoulder of its uniform was higher than his partner and said "I request an immediate audience with Hades."

A hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside and we walked into a vast throne room that continued the theme of the palace with black marble walls and bronze floors. The throne was made out of human bones and sitting on it was Hades himself. Next to his throne was my mother, covered in a cloud of energy that all of us currently in sage mode could tell was Hades power keeping her in stasis.

Hades might have been the third god I'd met, but he was the first to actually strike me as godlike with just his presence alone. Ares and Dionysus gave off a sense of power without trying, but Dionysus had had to really ramp it up for that sense of power to be considered that of a god in my book since I had been in the presence of Kami and she had had to ramp it _WAY DOWN_ for me to even be in her divine presence. I could tell that Hades on the other hand, wasn't even trying. He was currently at least ten feet tall, for one thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. Said silk robes had shadowy faces in the folds of them, faces of torment, as if the garment were stitched of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but the sense of power he radiated without a thought of it was easily five times stronger than Dionysus' when me and the wine god had our stare down of doom three days ago. He was currently lounging on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther.

Of course, that did nothing to take away from the rather pissed off look he had on his face as he stared straight at me while my clones shifted formations to allow Grover and Annabeth to stand in front with me a few steps ahead of them while they formed two lines of eight behind us. "You are brave to come here before me, Son of Poseidon," He said in an oily voice. "After what you have done to me and my realm, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."

I snorted before I sent a cold glare at the god and said "What I have done? I would never have come here if you hadn't kidnapped my mother. Everything I have done while down here was in retaliation for what YOU did first! You steal someone who is under MY protection and expect no consequences for your actions?" My chakra flared as my Killing Intent suddenly skyrocketed, my form shifting to that of my century old one as I said "I am a Shinobi of the Elemental Nations Hades! And I do not take people attacking me and mine lightly!"

Hades looked startled as my form shifted for the briefest moments before he snarled as he lurched to lean over the edge of his throne and exerted his own version of Killing Intent as he growled out "I wouldn't have kidnapped her if you hadn't stolen from me!"

I blinked even as I kept my Intent up and said "What in the name of the Shinigami's old wrinkled balls are you talking about? Before you stole my mother, I had absolutely nothing to do with you."

"Don't lie!" Hades roared and the throne room shook with a tremor so strong, they probably felt it upstairs in Los Angeles. Debris fell from the cavern ceiling as doors burst open all along the walls, and skeletal warriors marched in, hundreds of them, from every time period and nation in Western civilization. My clones immediately formed a protective ring around Grover and Annabeth with me outside of their protection, not that I needed it, as they lined the perimeter of the room.

Hades continued yelling as he said "_You_ were the thief on the winter solstice. Your father thought to keep you his little secret. He directed you into the throne room on Olympus. You took both Zeus' Master Bolt and MY Helm of Darkness. And now you have the nerve to come here into my domain, you unleash that monster on my land, and now you stand here before me threatening me?! I ought to kill you where you stand boy! Instead I'll give you an ultimatum, return my helm or I'll completely stop death."

My killing intent flared even higher as I shouted "I don't know what Zeus and your problem is, but for the hundredth time, I did not steal no stinking bolt and I sure as Log didn't steal your stinking helm! Now give me back my mother or I will flood the Underworld with the ocean that is above us, that is MY ULTIMATUM!" Behind me, Annabeth and Grover shook with fear as our two Intents battled for dominance. Each of my clones raised their hands in front of them in preparation of performing jutsu as the soldier skeletons around us shifted, taking one step forward making their weapons ready.

Hades rose from his throne, towering to the height of a football goalpost as he shouted "You dare to continue this charade of innocence?! You have the Master Bolt with you right now! I sensed it upon your arrival into my domain!"

I snorted and said "I find that highly unlikely considering the fact that I would have noticed having a bomb that could eliminate entire countries somewhere on my person."

"Oh really, well if you are so certain, then open your back pack." Hades said coldly as he sank back to his previous form and sat back down on his throne.

"I'll do one better, and let you open it." I said before I shrugged the pack off and tossed it at Hades. Hades caught the pack with a sneer before he looked down and opened the bag. His eyes widened when he saw that the only thing in it was the thousand dollars and map showing the location of the entrance to his domain. Snapping his head up while throwing the pack on the floor in anger, he shouted "Where is it?!" His arm began reaching for my mother as he said "If you don't give me the Bolt and my helm in thirty seconds, I will kill your mother! Do you understand me Percy Jackson, where are they?!"

I took one step forward as my Killing Intent reached new heights and I coldly said "As I have said before, I never stole Zeus' Master Bolt, and I certainly didn't steal your helm. Which means that you kidnapped my mother for no reason, and are now threatening her with death for even less. And unluckily for you, I am not just some random half blood from off the street. I am a reincarnated former Jinchuuriki of Kurama, the Nine Tailed Fox, the Sixth Hokage of Konohagakure, and the oldest shinobi to have lived of my generation. In short Hades, in the infamous words of Lucio Baldomero, YOU DONE FUCKED WITH THE WRONG NINJA!"

As I shouted the last part, the clone directly behind me replaced himself with mom's frozen form and slammed the two Rasenshuriken he now had in both hands into Hades' form blasting said Death God through his throne and into the back wall of the throne room screaming in pain as the two orbs expanded slicing into him on the microscopic level. The skeleton army immediately reacted to the attack on their lord, and fired their weapons at us, only for all of the bullets, spears, and arrows to get blown away by the massive collaborative Wind Shield Jutsu that sprung up around my clones and were shredded to dust by my Shredding Cyclone Jutsu. My clones retaliated with Wind Senbon jutsu that turned each skeleton into dust as they shredded the room, leaving it looking like Swiss cheese afterwards.

Hades roared in pain and rage as he stood up from where he had collapsed against the rubble that was the remains of the back wall. A massive tremor formed in response to his anger and I knew that up above us the people in Los Angeles were not going to be having a good day. Growing back to his massive size from before, Hades glared down at us and said "You dare to attack me?! You shall endure the most horrible torments in the Fields of Punishment for eternity for your actions!" A veritable hoard of lethal wind jutsu was the response and Hades shouted in pain as seventeen A and S ranked jutsu slammed into him, hurling him through the rubble of the back wall and through the next three walls behind that.

As Hades fell to the ground with another, much smaller tremor, I turned my head towards the ring of clones and shouted "Someone tell your brother to poke a few holes in the roof!" Turning back forward, I blitzed through hand signs and shouted "Wind Style: Grand Wind Dragon Horde Jutsu!" The air above us howled as seven Grand Wind Dragons came into existence. Hades began stumbling back to his feet, massive wounds bleeding golden ichor, but looked up when all seven dragons roared their might to the heavens before they launched themselves at the god, slamming into him one after another drawing a further roar of pain as each successive hit threw him back even more, destroying even more walls before the last one threw him through the last wall of the Palace and out into the surrounding area.

As he struggled to get to his feet, we all heard my Kyuubi clone shout out **"Wind Style: Wind Senbon Jutsu!"** I looked up in time to see Ten Wind Senbon longer than four double decker buses put together slam into the ceiling of the Underworld and continue upwards as they burrowed up all the way to the ocean above us. There was a distinct popping sound as my clone dispelled, having used all of his chakra in that last attack, and I flinched as the memories of fighting off Hades' army for an hour assaulted me.

I was drawn out of the potential migraine that caused by Hades' voice as he shouted "What have you done?!"

There was a large rumbling in the area as I shouted back "Exactly what I said I would since you wouldn't return my mother!" Immediately following my statement, water poured out of the ten holes above us, each new waterfall slamming down with the force of hundreds of combined fire hydrants. The closest one slammed down on the outside wall of the palace and began turning said palace into even more rubble as it tore the walls apart.

As the water burst through into the throne room, it circled around my clones as they manipulated it to form an air bubble around them. As the water came towards me, I shifted back into my Percy Jackson form as I took a running dive into it and began manipulating it as I swam against the raging current, the clone who had hit Hades with the two Rasenshurikens joining me and helping me drag the air bubble the other clones had made with us as we moved towards the downpour of water. I heard Hades give another bellow of rage through the water before we reached the waterfall. Moving into the center of it, I manipulated the water underneath us to shoot us up the fall like an elevator at a good fifty miles per hour while my clone kept the bottom of the air bubble solid.

We briefly passed through the rock that had once kept the water of the Pacific Ocean out of the Underworld before we came out in open ocean, still rising. We shot towards the surface of the ocean that was glittering with sunlight and within five minutes we were within two hundred feet of the surface. Once there, I slowed our speed down from fifty miles an hour down to five and our progress became a crawl.

Then we breached the water, the air pocket surrounding Grover and Annabeth looking like a giant bubble in a sheet of bubble wrap before it popped sending water out revealing Grover and Annabeth being held on top of the water by two of my clones who were water walking and had the two riding piggy back style. Grover and Annabeth were staring at me in shock as Annabeth stuttered out "Y-you actually flooded the Underworld. Do you have any idea what Hades is going to do to you?"

I snorted and said "I did tell him I was going to do that if he didn't return mom. I believe I told you on the flight here that the amount of damage done to the Underworld was completely up to if Hades cooperated or not."

I turned my attention to where another clone held my mother in a bridal carry and I was quick to walk over to it. Seeing that she was still frozen and covered in a golden shell, I frowned and said "I had been hoping that all that damage Hades took would have broken whatever kind of magic he had put on her." Placing my hand over her heart, I muttered "I hope this works." I then pushed some of the natural energy out of my body and into the barrier disrupting its integrity. The shell flared for a moment before there was the sound of shattering glass as it burst apart into golden dust.

Sally's eyes snapped open and she gasped in a large amount of air. She turned her head in a panic before she gained a confused look when she took in the sight of me and my clones standing on the surface of an ocean keeping her, Grover, and a girl she did not know above it. Turning her head to look back at me, who she correctly assumed was the original, she flinched at the sight of my sage mode eyes even as she said "Percy? What's going on? The last thing I remember was us being at Camp Half Blood."

I had a relieved smile on my face as I said "You were kidnapped mom. But don't worry, the one who did it is currently dealing with his realm being flooded. I'll explain more later, but for right now, we need to get back to shore."


	15. Deadliest Warrior: Shinobi Vs God of War

15. Deadliest Warrior: Shinobi vs. God of War

We had left the Underworld at a point that was approximately twenty miles out to sea. As me and my clones shot over the ocean towards Las Angeles, we had plenty of time to see that the city was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighborhoods all over the city. There had been an earthquake all right, and it had caused massive, massive damage to the city of the angels. Mom stared at the sight in open horror with Grover and Annabeth doing the same at all of the destruction that we could see even as far out as we were. I myself had a grim frown on my face as I saw all of the devastation. Hades had caused this, and I was indirectly responsible for it too.

However, I had bigger things to worry about, such as the figure that was standing on the beach next to a rumbling motorcycle whose headlight was turning the sand red. A figure wearing a black leather duster and sunglasses, and aluminum baseball bat propped on his shoulder. As me and my clones made land fall, he grinned at me and said "Hey, kid, you were supposed to die." He actually sounded genuinely pleased to see me, the bastard.

My eyes narrowed as I uncapped Riptide and said "You have a lot of nerve, showing your face to me after what you pulled Ares."

Both of Ares' eyebrows rose in amusement as he pointed to himself and said still grinning, "Me? What did I do?"

"Don't play games!" I snapped. "You had Luke steal the Master Bolt, and most likely Hades' Helm of Darkness as well. My plans to go to the Underworld to rescue my mother was never a secret and so when you found out I was in Detroit you gave me that back pack which would summon the Master Bolt to it once I reached the entrance of Tartarus. You knew I would arrive there at some point since Luke had tampered with the shoes he had gave us to drag whoever was wearing them to that infernal pit. There, old grandpa would be able to obtain the Master Bolt, thus removing one of the most dangerous weapons he would have to worry about if he ever came out of that pit out of play. Most likely your plan counted on my dying at some point so dad would be furious at Hades. With the Master Bolt still missing, Zeus would be just as pissed with dad and soon there's a three way war going on. What I would like to know is why you didn't keep the Master Bolt for yourself. A weapon that powerful would be right up your alley. Why would you so easily let it out of your grasp?"

Ares had an amused look on his face when I first started, but his grin turned into a frown as I continued. At the end though, he got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I…Yeah…with that kind of fire-power…" My eyes narrowed as I realized something just as Ares' face cleared and he said "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught red-handed, holding the thing."

I suddenly smirked and said "I call bullshit. Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea. Which means you aren't the grand mastermind in all of this."

"Of course I am!" Ares shouted as smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire.

Taking a logical stab in the dark, I said "You probably didn't order the theft either. Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent everyone out on a chase to find the thief like I'm sure he would, you caught him. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus because a certain someone down in the well convinced you to let him go. Then you kept the items until I came along and you secretly gave the back pack to me knowing that it would summon the bolt at the right time, thus completing the delivery. You're not the one giving orders cousin, it's grandpa."

"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!" Ares shouted.

I rose an eyebrow and smirked as I said "Who said anything about dreams? But anyway, what I would like to know is if you actually have Hades' helm still on you, or if you had enough common sense to keep it somewhere else for in case I came back from the Underworld and decided to kick your ass after I got through with Hades."

Ares scowled at me as he said "Watch your tone little godling, if I wanted to, I could turn you into a cockroach."

I smirked and said "Yeah, I'm sure you could. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it? What's the matter big guy, afraid to go at it mono a mono?"

Ares face was turning purple with rage as flames danced along the top of his glasses as he said "Oh, man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot."

I smirked and said "Well why don't we make this interesting. Fight me, and if you win, you can turn me into anything you want, and take the bolt. You lose, the helm and bolt are mine."

Ares sneered at me as he took a ski mask out of his pocket and placed it on the handlebars of his motorcycle where it immediately transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet. Stepping away from it, he swung the baseball bat off his shoulder and said "You have a deal, now how would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"

I made a hand gesture with my off hand and my clones grabbed the others as they dashed to stand a hundred yards away from the danger zone while I brought my right hand to my shoulder showing Riptide to Ares before I brought it back down to my side in a spinning flourish.

Ares grinned at me as he said "That's cool, dead boy, Classic it is." The baseball bat changed into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth. As he began marching towards me, he said "I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got that can counter all that?"

I smirked and pointed to the ocean with my free hand before taking a ninja jump back. Ares rose an eyebrow and looked before he took a step back in shock as the water in the ocean surged together to rapidly form a one hundred foot golem that wasted no time in swinging the broadsword it held down onto the beach. Ares quickly raised his own broadsword and caught the water blade on it. But for all of his boasting of unlimited strength, Ares was still pushed waist deep into the sand which had no such strength whatsoever and easily gave under the force of the pressure. Ares began cursing as he realized this as I had the golem withdraw its sword and burst apart, returning it back to the ocean.

Not giving Ares a chance to get out, I manipulated the water underneath the sand and had it rise to his level and grab him before dragging him down as fast as possible. I got his head ten feet under before I heard Ares give a loud roar and the sand all around him exploded upwards forming a sixteen foot deep crater around him. The next millisecond, I blocked Ares' broadsword with Riptide as the war god came at me a lot faster than I would have given him credit for. The only thing that had saved me was my shinobi instincts which had been honed for a century. As I spread my chakra out across the sand from being buried myself by the strength Ares was pushing his sword with, I entered sage mode and said "Time to kick things up a notch."

Ares' eyes widened slightly at the transformation my eyes underwent before they widened even further when I flowed wind chakra through Riptide and proceeded to cut through his broadsword like a plasma cutter through butter, twisting slightly to the left to avoid the falling blade and slammed a sage mode enhanced punch into Ares' diaphragm which knocked the wind out of him and sent him a good fifty feet away. That was only how far he flew though. As soon as he hit the sand, he rolled for another six before he could stop himself.

While this was happening, I capped Riptide and pulled out my two celestial bronze kunai and shunshined to stand behind Ares as he got back up cursing up a storm. His words stopped though when he saw that I was no longer where he remembered me to be. Then he felt two pokes on his back, one where his heart was and the other where his T7 vertebrae was. Snapping his head over his right shoulder, he saw me with my kunai positioned in an instant kill spot as well as an area that would paralyze if I actually went through with my attack. I grinned up at him and said "I do believe that's match, unless you want me to prove my point further?"

Ares snarled and spun around in order to back hand me. At that close of range, I would have been swatted, even if I was expecting it without anything augmenting my speed. However, Ares had never fought a Toad Sage before and I had enough time to duck even as I stabbed my left kunai into his arm which tore a chunk out with nothing but the arm's momentum. Ares roared in pain and I was surprised when it caused a shockwave that knocked me back just as far as my punch had.

I landed on my feet and skidded for a couple of feet before I shunshined back towards my opponent with both feet slamming into Ares' face. As Ares flew backwards, I shunshined again to where he would land and slammed an elbow into his diaphragm sending him crashing into the sand. Not finished with simply taking his breath away, I slammed an ax kick down on him and to my satisfaction heard at least one rib break before I ninja jumped away to avoid the retaliatory swing Ares took at me.

As Ares stumbled to his feet clutching his chest in one hand glaring at me, I heard the distant sound of sirens getting closer instead of just being background noise. Knowing that even with the Mist most likely hiding what was really going on, things would get complicated if the police got involved, I blitzed through hand signs and said "Sorry cousin, but I'm ending this before the cops show up. Wind Style: Grand Wind Dragon Horde Jutsu!" The seven dragons formed overhead, spread out in a circle around Ares, not even bothering to go through their usual intimidation tactic of roaring as they all rushed their target as soon as they were created. Ares had just enough time to widen his eyes before all seven dragons slammed into him simultaneously from seven directions and an explosion of sand was thrown into the air as the low S Rank wind jutsu did its best to completely obliterate the god.

I used my mastery of wind chakra to manipulate the wind around me to prevent any of the thrown sand touching me. As the sand began to clear, I held my kunai in a ready stance as I watched the war god struggle to his feet, massive lacerations running up and down his body spilling life giving Ichor which sunk into the sand of the miniature crater he was now in.

As he turned to glare at me, pure hate shone in his eyes. In the span of less than a quarter hour, I had gone from someone who amused him, to an annoyance, to someone who he had no problem picturing more and more gruesome ways to torture and then kill me by the second. This was made clear as a claymore shimmered into existence that Ares easily held with one hand as he spun it in a circle much like I had done with Riptide. My face gained another level of seriousness and my hands tightened their grips on my kunai before the two of us rushed the other and the sound of metal slamming on metal sounded as kunai clashed with claymore. I idly noticed that even with Ares loosing enough Ichor to make the Red Cross's monthly quota of blood, the god's enormous strength was still present.

We disengaged our blades from the block and began tearing up the sand underneath us as we began a lethal dance that would make professional film choreographers weep in awe. Punches and kicks were both thrown in and blocked along with using our bladed weapons as we did our best to send the other into the permanent ward of a hospital. Two minutes in, during one of our brief power struggles, the sirens finally reached our block and I heard one of my clones shout "Boss, cops!" The loud popping sound and sixteen sets of new memories after the warning told me my clones had all dispelled in order to avoid the awkward questions that would be asked if the cops saw sixteen copies of me.

The screeching of tires and the red and blue flashing lights of police cars announced the arrival of the city's protectors. Car doors were slammed as someone yelled "There, officer! See?"

"What the heck, they're both armed!" A gruff voice shouted.

Now knowing that playtime was well and truly over, I ignored the voice for now instead grunting as Ares tried to push me further into the sand. Retaliating, I slammed a foot on the ground and a spike of water answered my gesture and pierced Are' left foot before the tip expanded left and right trapping his foot. Ares roared in pain which only increased when I pushed his claymore to the side and let loose with a rapid barrage of slashes to his chest that tore his shirt to shreds and left his entire torso crisscrossed in one inch deep cuts. As Ares began to fall to his knees from all of the pain he was now feeling, I spun around him and slammed my left elbow into the back of his neck right at the joint where the skull met it.

The god or war keeled forward and planted his face into the sand, unconscious, and after the stasis seal I applied on him via touch, definitely not waking up anytime soon. Hearing the flapping of wings near where Ares' motorcycle was still rumbling, I said "You furies don't stay dead long do you?" I stood up from where I had crouched to apply my seal on Ares and turned around to see Mrs. Dodds standing next to the motorcycle with Hades' helm in her hands.

Said fury was staring at me with narrow eyes, wanting to attack me but both knowing it was suicide and that she had a higher priority. Instead, she replied "No we don't, Percy Jackson. My lord is obviously quite furious with you. But seeing as how you have spoken the truth about never stealing his helm, I will advise him to leave you and yours alone. In exchange, I suggest you stay as far away from my lord's domain as possible for a century or two."

I gave her a nod and she sank into her shadow, presumably to return to her master. Fury gone, I turned my focus back to the police cars where the ten officers were standing behind their car doors with pistols drawn and staring at me warily. I rose an eyebrow at them before I spun the kunai in my hands once to throw off the ichor on them and put them back in my kunai pouch. I then raised my hands and stepped away from Ares' still form as I made a snap decision and said "Officers, I have a perfectly good explanation for all of this which I will tell you if you put those guns away."

The cops continued to stare at me warily before the cop behind the driver side door of the police car directly across from me sighed and holstered his pistol before he closed his car door and began walking down the beach towards me. The rest of the officers followed suit and soon they were all joining me in a circle surrounding me and Ares. Giving them all a hard leveled stare, I said "Officers, what you're about to hear is probably going to shock you, and unfortunately, I'll have to take some precautions to keep the information I have from spreading. In short, what you are about to hear should be classified as Top Secret, do you understand?"

Each of the cops blinked in surprise before they nodded, willing to listen to a twelve year old who had just out dueled a guy who was easily three times his size wielding a claymore with nothing but two knives which had looked like toothpicks compared to it. I nodded as well before I rose a privacy Genjutsu and began giving them the basics, shifting forms and uncapping Riptide as proof at some points. When I was done, they were all stunned speechless to find out that there were in fact Greek gods and that all of the terrible weather had been the result of them arguing over the theft of a magic item. An item which I had recovered and needed to get back to New York city with. They asked questions and I answered as best as I could. When the Q&A session was over, I placed secrecy/illusion cancelation seals on each officer's right hand that vanished from sight after applied. The seals would allow them to talk about it between them but not when others not in the know were present, and also allowed them to see past the illusion effects of the Mist.

After that, it was decided that some of the officers would escort us to the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County airport after I had placed Ares into a stasis storage seal and we would immediately head to home. The official report would be an attempted kidnapping attempt was stopped by one of the potential victims and the kidnapper got away. Need for secrecy now over, I dropped the Genjutsu and gestured for Mom, Grover and Annabeth to come join us. The three began marching over towards us from where they had watched my fight with Ares and follow up discussion with the police officers with worried looks on their faces.

I took out my emergency seal paper and unsealed my storage seal notebook as they came over. I had just finished modifying the last seal into a stasis seal and had placed Ares inside when they reached us. Looking over at them as I put the notebook away, I said "I've explained everything to these officers as well as made sure that no one but them and anyone else in the know about the Greek gods can talk about it in their presence. Their official report will be that there was an attempted kidnapping that I prevented and that the kidnapper escaped. We'll be given a ride back to the airport and once there, we will continue on to New York."

Annabeth opened her mouth to protest telling the cops about the hidden world we lived in but closed her mouth as my eyes turned sapphire while looking at her, not wanting to discuss the need for secrecy that I had already dealt with and she instead simply nodded. I nodded as well and all of us walked over to the police cars with us entering the center car. My mom rode up front with the officer while the rest of us sat in the back.

An hour and a discussion with Andrew and David, including an introduction of my mother thrown in later, we were airborne and racing back to New York at the Chinook's top speed of one hundred and ninety seven miles an hour. As Andrew and David took the first pilot shift of the nearly thirteen hour flight, I sat mom down on one of the seats near the rear hatch and began explaining everything about my previous life to her in more detail than I had time to when we last talked, which seemed so long ago even though it had only been a few weeks at most. I also briefly explained how I had managed to acquire a Chinook to go cross country and about the quest we had been given.

As me and my mother had a talk that was long overdue, Annabeth decided that the knowledge of how to fly a helicopter could potentially come in handy in the future and was up front listening to David as the retired Air Force pilot explained what each of the controls and gauges in the cockpit did. Grover meanwhile had decided to take the same path as many long distance travelers and was currently sawing logs with the intention to keep sleeping for as long as possible.

Five hours later, me and a clone traded spots with Andrew and David, and continued our full out sprint across the continent while the two were asked questions by mom as she tried to figure out just how I had managed to get the workers of the Eagle's Roost to help me. Needless to say, she was rather shocked when she had learned that I had entered a casino and came out ten grand richer before I was ten years old. Me and my clone both snickered when we heard over our headsets mom wondering if I planned on doing it again anytime soon to pay for college.

After that, the ride was pretty much uneventful, and after another shift change with the two retired Air Force pilots, we were crossing the New York State border, our quest almost over.

AN: Only two more chapters planned for this. The next one is currently half done and I plan on posting it within twenty four hours after I get some much needed sleep since I've now been awake for twenty hours straight at the time of posting this.


	16. Home Again, Home Again

16. Home Again, Home Again

It was well past midnight when the Chinook roared across the New York State border, shimmering out of existence due to a cloaking seal that I had put on all of the Eagle Roost's helicopters. Simultaneously, David activated a transponder jamming program that made anyone watching us on radar believe that we were heading straight back to Eagle Roost. As we went off the map in concerns to normal tracking, I walked in to the cockpit and placed my right hand on the cockpit ceiling and twisted it a quarter turn clockwise. The anti-Illusion seal that was there for the general purpose of removing illusions that were produced mainly by different temperatures creating mirages had its sensitivity boosted to its maximum level removing all illusions from the sight of anyone in the Chinook. These three actions took us completely out of the 'normal world' and fully into the 'mythical world'. The thought had me chuckling at the terminology that was so similar to what was used in the Digimon show.

I waved off Andrew and David's curious looks and said "Just thinking about how we 'changed worlds' just now like in some cartoons." Andrew and David nodded having watched Digimon a couple of times themselves just for the heck of it when nothing was going on at the Roost.

After we crossed the state border it didn't take long to reach New York City. Andrew and David cut the Chinook's speed back down from a flat out sprint to an almost leisurely walk of sixty miles per hour as we passed over the city's limits. As we headed towards the Empire State Building, everyone in the Chinook could see the massive mountain that was floating above it, full of twinkling lights that I instinctively knew was coming from massive braziers that were identical to the one that was nestled between the cabins back at camp.

When we reached a point that was just ahead of the area of the city that the mountain was over, Andrew kicked the rotors back into high gear and we began rapidly climbing up to the mountain's level. We continued rising even as we passed the first level of habitation for the mountain and we began moving forward again, passing over a city of mansions that clung to the mountain, snow covering its summit. All of the multileveled palaces had white columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires. Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow, even at night. We passed over precariously perched gardens and an open air market, followed by a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain while I noticed a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other.

And everywhere below us, people were looking up into the sky in confusion as our now uncloaked helicopter's rotors roared and sent a downdraft of wind as it continued towards the palace at the top. Within minutes we were in front of the palace, which other than glittering white and silver instead of black and bronze looked to be an exact copy of Hades' palace. Andrew turned the Chinook until it's rear hatch was facing the entrance to the palace and David said "Here's your stop Naruto."

I nodded and thanked them for the ride before I took off my radio headset and headed to the back, my three traveling companions joining me. I lowered the hatch and easily jumped the ten feet between the hovering Chinook and the ground. After I caught the others as they jumped out one at a time, the hatch closed and the Chinook took off at cruise speed, intent on returning to Eagle's Roost in order to complete its own delivery of custom engine parts to Richie.

We watched the Chinook go until it reached the end of the mountain and once again cloaked before I turned back towards the entrance of the palace we were in front of. Taking in a deep breath, I said "Well, let's get this over with."

I lead the way up the steps and into the courtyard, and then into the throne room. Well, ROOM was really an understatement. This place made Grand Central Station look like a broom closet. Massive columns rose to a domed ceiling, which was gilded with moving constellations. Twelve thrones, built for beings the size of Hades, were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cabins at Camp Half-blood. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. The thrones were empty except for two at the end: the head throne on the right, and the one to its immediate left. I didn't have to be told who the two were sitting in them were.

Zeus was wearing a dark blue pinstriped suit. His throne was rather simple considering just who was sitting on it, simply being a block of solid platinum carved into the shape of a chair. He had a well-trimmed beard, marbled gray and black like a storm cloud. His face was proud and handsome and grim, his eyes rainy gray. Those gray eyes were narrowed as the four of us entered the throne room.

Poseidon on the other hand was dressed extremely differently. At first glance, dad reminded me of a beachcomber from Key West, wearing leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it. His skin was deeply tanned, and his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's. His hair was black, like mine and his face had that same brooding look that had always gotten me branded a rebel in this timeline. His eyes however told a different story. Sea green like my Percy Jackson's form, and surrounded by sun-crinkles that told me he smiled a lot more than he frowned. Further separating him from his brother was his throne, a deep-sea fisherman's chair. It was the simple swiveling kind, with a black leather seat and a built in holster for a fishing pole, which held a bronze trident, which flickered with green light around the tips.

I took this all in with a glance without stopping as I walked to stand in front of the two gods. When I reached them, I calmly took my sealing notebook out and unsealed Zeus' Master Bolt and Ares, drawing raised eyebrows from my father and a shocked look on Zeus' face at the state the still unconscious god of war was in. Giving a deep bow of my head to Poseidon, I said "It's good to finally meet you dad. I had been hoping for a chance to ever since Chiron confirmed some of my theories about who you were."

My father had a proud smile on his face as he said "It is good to see you as well Percy. And I must say, I am quite proud with how you have handled things."

I grinned at his words, feeling a warmth in my chest at his words before the warmth went away as Zeus spoke up and said "Should you not address the master of this house first boy?"

When I had first entered the throne room, the atmosphere around me had been serious but calm. After Zeus spoke, the air around us seemed to drop ten degrees as I looked at him. Shifting into my century old form, I began bombarding the god with my killing intent going at full blast as I coldly said "You lost all right to that sign of respect when you attacked me and the people around me three times for no reason. You attacked me, my mother, and Grover when we were escaping the minotaur for no apparent reason other than the fact that I was a descendant of Poseidon, you created that massive thunderstorm when we were traveling to Detroit and tried multiple times to kill me then and then you sent Echidna and her children after us. Now why don't you just sit there and let me have a long overdue discussion with my father. Oh, and another thing, try to keep a better track of this next time." Mini rant over, I tossed the Master Bolt over to Zeus who hastily grabbed it out of the air.

I could practically hear the jaws of everyone who was standing behind me drop to the floor. Zeus himself looked like I had just slapped him in the face with a five foot long trout. I gave him one last blast of killing intent for good measure before I eased off and shifted back to my Percy Jackson form and turned back towards my father who had a surprised look on his face that rather quickly turned into a smirk telling me he found me verbally ripping the rug out from under Zeus amusing.

Taking a deep breath to get the last dredges of anger out of my system, I started giving a report to Poseidon. "Father, the Master Bolt was stolen by a son of Hermes by the name of Luke, along with Hades' Helm of Darkness, I request permission to deal with him personally. When Zeus sent the others out to search for it, Ares caught up to him but someone convinced him to let him go. I believe this person was dear old grandpa." A concerned look crossed Poseidon's face but he gestured for me to continue. "When I reached Detroit, Ares here slipped me the Master Bolt after I had dealt with that trap Hephaestus had made. He did this by giving me a bag that would summon the bolt after a certain condition was met. When we reached the Underworld, a pair of flying shoes that Luke had given us activated and dragged Grover to the entrance of Tartarus. I was able to keep him from falling in and that is when I discovered the bolt. After making sure no one else could get it, I got mom out of the Underworld, although Uncle Hades is going to have to be doing a lot of redecorating from everything I did down there. Anyways, Ares met us on the beach at Las Angeles and pretty much indirectly admitted his guilt and saying that he had been getting orders through his dreams. You can see the results of our discussion before you. After placing Ares under a stasis seal and ensuring that news of what happened on the beach didn't spread further than the police officers who were called in response of witnesses seeing Ares and my fight, we came back to New York as fast as we could."

As I finished my report, Poseidon leaned back in his seat and threaded his fingers together in under his chin. Zeus frowned as he leaned forward and said "You believe that our father was behind this?"

I turned my focus to him and said "Yes. I had a dream before accepting this quest where you and father were fighting, and a voice from underground was egging the two of you on. Hades was not the one who stole your bolt so the only other likely option when coupled with how Luke's shoes were spelled to drag whoever was wearing them into that pit is grandpa."

Zeus and Poseidon looked at each other and began a quick, and rather intense discussion in Ancient Greek. Listening to them reminded me of listening to a Mexican or Spanish group of people speaking amongst themselves in their native language: rapid fire words that even if you knew what the words being used meant couldn't quite catch all of them to mentally translate before you had to translate the next. I didn't even bother trying to follow the discussion. Instead I focused on the mannerisms of the two gods to get an idea of what they were saying. Dad made some kind of suggestion, but Zeus cut him off. Dad tried to argue only for Zeus to hold up his hand angrily. He began to say something but his mouth shut with an audible click as _SOMETHING _made its presence known in the throne room.

Everyone's eyes snapped over to the brazier as an immense sense of power, tightly contained but still easily twenty times stronger than the two gods combined appeared in it. My mind instantly remembered my meeting with Kami even as the air over the brazier shimmered before erupting into a bonfire that reached the ceiling shading the entire room blue from its obviously not normal flames. And then a voice that held more power than I could ever truly grasp spoke from the fire.

"_**Do not take the young Uzumaki's words lightly Zeus. Trouble is stirring on the planet you and your family rules over, and when it fully awakens from its millennia long slumber, you and your court will be in the fight of your lives. But know this, when that time comes, my chosen warrior will be there to aid you."**_

The fire rapidly died down and went back to a normal fire leaving everyone staring at it for a moment before I said "Wow, Kami wasn't kidding when she said her counterpart had a flair for the theater."

Everyone's eyes snapped towards me as Zeus demanded "Boy, do you have any idea who that just was that you are speaking so causally about?!" Then his eyes turned confused as he actually registered what I said and asked "Wait, what did you mean by this Kami's counterpart?"

I snorted and said "Oh come on, you can't honestly believe that I'm actually from this world originally can you? Not twenty four hours ago, I went to the Underworld and blasted dear Uncle Hades out of his throne room and into his back yard before poking ten big holes in the Underworld's roof turning the place into the world's biggest indoor swimming pool. Before that, I shredded Echidna and her hydra to bits on the microscopic level with an S class wind jutsu. Before _that_ I was flying through that thunderstorm you sent at me with wind manipulation when I am clearly a son of Poseidon due to my water manipulation abilities." Now chuckling, I said "To answer your question though, Kami is the goddess who is in overall charge of the realm I was born in on my first life."

Poseidon blinked and said "If you are from a different realm originally, then why are you now in this one?"

I turned back to face dad and said "Kami was approached by her counterpart for a favor. That favor was for the soul of a warrior to come into this realm and be reincarnated for a mission. Guess who she chose."

PoV Change: Zeus

My jaw actually dropped a little as I realized I had attacked the avatar of the one who was in charge of the entire Universe we were currently in. Oh, this was bad, really bad. I had been pissed when I had discovered who Percy Jackson was, so I had tried to hinder his escape from the Minotaur. I was even more pissed when the mortal had dared to enter my domain. Said mortal calling me a large spark plug not once, but twice certainly didn't help matters and I had retaliated both times. Thankfully, the avatar seemed to just be annoyed with me, and not planning on giving me a severe beating like he did to my son and apparently to my brother as well, for which I was extremely thankful for. I just hope I never did something that would change that fact. If this young mortal had been the choice of the ruler of his first Universe to be the avatar of ours, he must have been incredibly strong in his first life. I did not want to see just how strong he was with him as an enemy.

PoV Change: Percy/Naruto

I could practically feel Zeus' 'oh shit' moment when I saw his jaw drop slightly when it became known that I was chosen to come to this new Universe by Kami. I mentally smirked at the sight but kept most of my focus on my father, who looked at me incredulously for a moment before he seemed to snap himself back onto more important matters and gained a serious look as he took control from his shell shocked brother and said "While this new information is certainly surprising, there is the matter of the thief to take into account. You wish to deal with this Luke yourself, and I am willing to grant you your request, so long as you capture him. If for some reason you fail to do so, we shall take the matter into our own hands and hunt him down. Moving on, I need you to remove whatever you put your cousin under so that way we can begin figuring out if he had acted out of his own will or was somehow magically manipulated through his dreams. After you do so, we and your mother will be able to talk for a short while before you must leave."

I nodded as my face gained its own seriousness. Poseidon was right, first we needed to see if one of the gods had turned by himself or if the process had been helped along with more than words. After that, we could have a short family reunion before we dealt with the other traitor. Kneeling next to Ares' head, I placed my hand over the stasis seal and concentrated. A blue flash appeared under my hand before the black seal receded. Ares' wounds began bleeding golden Ichor again, although much slower than before, making me think that there was an inherent regenerative factor in play. Stepping away, I said "He's all yours dad. With the damage and the hit to the back of the head I gave him, he should be out for at least ten more minutes at the extreme least."

Poseidon nodded his thanks and took his trident out of its holster. Placing the center tip to Are's forehead, his eyes gained a sharp focus and the trident began to glow green for about a minute. After that, the glow died down and Poseidon lifted it, a slight frown on his face as he said "Brother, please come here and run a mental scan on Ares for me. Focus on the Zien wavelength, there seems to be something unusual there but I cannot make heads or tails of it."

Zeus knelt down next to his son and did what his brother had asked of him. Ten seconds later, I saw his brows furrow as he said "There is definitely magic there, looks like something to give Ares specific dreams, as well as a mental command spell, and something else there, but whatever it is seems almost purposely unfocused, almost like-" What it was almost like I'll probably never find out since Zeus' eyes widened and he immediately began cursing in rapid Ancient Greek before he teleported away in a burst of thunder taking the war god with him.

I blinked at where the two gods were before I looked back at dad and said "Do you have any idea what he was talking about?"

Poseidon had a frown on his face as he shook his head and said "I honestly have no clue son." He shook his head again to clear it before he looked over to where the others were and said "Sally, well you please come join us? I would like to have a family discussion."

One hour later, me, mom, Annabeth, and Grover, were being driven to mom's apartment in what looked to mortals like a police car that was driven by a Cyclops named Richard whose Mist covered form made Chris Rock look like a high school football player. Why might you ask? Because apparently Poseidon was pissed off with Gabe slandering me on national television earlier on the ten o'clock news and he was sending one of his subordinates to make his displeasure known. This coupled with the fact that apparently mom only married Gabe so that way his rather repugnant scent could cover up my demigod one meant that me and her no longer had to deal with him anymore. I considered it fortunate for Gabe that Richard was going to be the one bringing him in because I certainly wouldn't have left enough of him for processing when Poseidon had shown me said interview and it had become known that Gabe had hit mom more than a couple of times while I was away at school.

Annabeth and Grover were sending uneasy looks at the guy from where they were sitting next to me in the back. But when I asked them what was wrong, they both shook their heads and said it was nothing so I dropped the matter.

Our car pulled into the block holding the apartment building and our driver flipped a switch causing blue and red lights to flash like a real police car's would. Pulling up to the curb in front of the apartment, we all stepped out of the car and walked over to the entrance where Mom unlocked the door and led us up to our floor. Mom unlocked the door to our apartment and turned on the entrance hall light as she said "You kids make yourself comfortable in the kitchen while I whip up some blueberry punch. Richard, would you like anything? I have both instant coffee and tea if you do."

"A cup of coffee to go wouldn't be remiss ma'am. Straight black if you will." Richard said as he and I walked past said room and continued towards the main bedroom. We were five feet from the bedroom's door when it opened showing a sleepy Gabe who had an aluminum baseball bat in his hand, having awaken when the lights had turned on and our voices woke him up. His sleepy eyes widened in anger at the sight of me and he brandished the bat in my direction as he shouted "You! What are you doing here?!"

I rose an eyebrow and said "I'm here because I live here. A fact that I am happy to say we will not share in common from now on."

"Wha?" Gabe asked before Richard stepped forward and drew Gabe's attention to him causing said walrus' eyes to widen at the size of the Cyclops as he said "Gabe Ugliano, you are under arrest for purposely laying false accusations of kidnapping against one Percy Jackson, spousal abuse against your wife, and generally being an overall scumbag. Will you come quietly, or will things have to get physical?"

Gabe's eyes turned furious as he shouted "I ain't going nowhere!" and swung the bat at Richard's head, only for the Cyclops to lazily catch the bat in his left hand.

Gabe's eyes widened as Richard grinned and said "And now we can add assault on an officer of law to your crimes." Richard's hand flexed and the aluminum bat crumpled inward like a crumpled soda can causing Gabe's eyes to widen and to drop the handle of the bat before Richard's other hand shot forward and grabbed Gabe. Richard spun Gabe in a quarter circle and pushed him none to gently against the hallway wall as Richard said "Spread 'em." and gently kicked Gabe's legs apart. Well gently for a Cyclops anyway, Gabe's legs were probably going to have a nasty bruise on them in a couple of minutes.

Dropping the now useless bat, Richard pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed Gabe's arms behind him and proceeded to pat search Gabe for any other weapons on his person before he pulled him away from the wall and pushed him towards the exit of the apartment where he stopped only long enough to take the cup of instant coffee from my mom's hands with a word of thanks before continuing out the door with me following.

The other people living on our floor were staring out of their own apartments having been rudely awakened by Gabe's shouting. They stared as Richard marched Gabe out and to the elevator. When the elevator doors closed behind the two, their heads all turned to look at me and I gave them a cheerful wave before I turned and went back into the apartment shutting the door on the way. Once inside I went to the windows facing the street and looked down to where Richard's car was still flashing its lights. A few moments later I saw Richard march Gabe out of the building and to the car where he opened the door to the back of the car and pushed Gabe in before he slammed the door shut and proceeded to walk around the car to the driver side and got in. The car's engine started before it pulled away from the apartment taking Gabe away from me and my mom's lives forever and leaving me with a deep sense of satisfaction.

I turned away from the window and walked into the kitchen. Receiving a glass of blueberry punch from mom, I thanked her and sat down at the kitchen table and sighed as I said "Well, the seiuchi's no longer a problem for us to deal with. Mom, with him out of the way, there's nothing stopping me from going to a casino and winning enough money for you to start taking those college classes you wanted if you want me to, maybe buy a car as well. But that's something to think about later. We need to get back to camp tomorrow morning to officially complete the quest and I've got a traitor I need to bring in for dad."

Annabeth sighed as she put her empty glass on the table and said "I still can't believe that Luke was the thief." She frowned and looked at her empty glass before she corrected herself and said "Actually, I can believe it, he changed so much after that quest of his, but he tried hide it behind a facade and I just didn't want to look too deep and see that." Lifting her head so that her eyes met mine, she said "If Luke is willing to be the spark that lights the powder keg that would be a war between gods, than he needs to be caught."

Grover frowned into his second glass of punch for a moment before he too looked up towards me and said "Annabeth is right. As much as I don't like it, we need to bring him in."

I nodded and said "And he will be, you can be sure of that. One way or another, Luke will answer for his crimes."

"That can wait until tomorrow." Mom said softly but firmly, entering our conversation as she continued "It is well past three in the morning, we all need to begin going to bed. We can call a taxi to take you three back to the camp when the sun is up."

The three of us nodded and I drained my glass before placing it in the sink and walked out of the kitchen, the others following my lead. Ten minutes later Grover and Annabeth were settled in the apartment's small guest room and mom was in her own room getting ready for bed. In my own room I stared out of my window in the direction of the Empire State Building and thought 'We may have prevented a war from breaking out for now, but I doubt this was the only plan grandpa had. I'm going to have to keep my ears peeled for the next one. But until the next plan is revealed we can only bring in Luke and take a wait and see approach for everything else.'

Turning away from the window, I turned off my light and slipped into bed, and fell asleep with plans to bring Luke to justice running through my head.


	17. One Final Conflict

17. One Final Conflict

There was a rather nice surprise for me when I woke up and brought in the newspaper. On the Metro page was a side view picture of Richard pushing Gabe into his car with the heading HUSBAND FOUND TO BE GUILTY OF DISAPPEARANCE OF MOTHER AND SON. My eyebrows shot to the top of my forehead as I read the article which said that apparently Gabe had for some unknown reason rigged his Camaro to break down while we were away from civilization in an attempt to strand us in the wilderness. Apparently, it was only my survivor's instincts that allowed us to find our way back to the city in one piece. Gabe was now in an undisclosed prison awaiting a trial for the attempted murder of her and me by way of letting the wild take care of us.

I chuckled as I finished reading the story before I walked into the kitchen where mom was making blueberry pancakes and said "Hey mom, take a look at this." I handed the newspaper to her and took over cooking breakfast as she read the article. Her own eyebrow raised as she read the article and said "I have to say, your father works fast. We got in the city at three in the morning last night and there is already an article explaining away what happened without saying what actually happened."

I gave a hum of agreement as I manipulated the water in the pancake matter to spin it like a miniature whirlpool to blend all of the ingredients together as well as possible before I poured the batter onto the skillet and let it start cooking. Annabeth and Grover came in soon after and helped mom set the table.

Once breakfast was served and everyone had their fill, mom called for a taxi to take us to camp. While we waited, I made some sealing ink and made a new set of seal tags which I tied to the rings of eight of my steel kunai. From the apartment to camp it was a silent ride to the hill that held Thalia's tree and the entrance to the camp where we exited the cab and continued the rest of the way on foot. As we walked, I placed a small genjutsu over us that acted similar to the Notice-Me-Not charm from the Harry Potter series since I didn't want to give Luke an advanced warning of our return. When we reached the top of the hill, Annabeth and Grover took a moment to take in the welcome sight of the camp before they caught up to me as I continued walking to the Big House.

When we reached the house, we came upon the sight of Mr. D standing in front of the front door with crossed arms frowning at us. His eyebrow raised as he said "I see you three made it back intact. Good for you."

I rose an eyebrow of my own and thought 'Note to self, The Hiding In Plain Sight jutsu doesn't work on gods.' Out loud, I said "Yes it was good for us. May I ask why you were waiting for us?"

Mr. D's frown grew as he said "Barnacle Beard wanted me to bring you to where the brat you think is the thief is as soon as you three arrived. Now follow me."

The god of wine stepped off the porch and began walking at a brisk pace towards the coliseum where most of the combat lessons were taught. Once there, Mr. D said "The brat's inside teaching the rest of his cabin mates. Now if you will excuse me, The finals of the national Pinochle tournament begin in twenty minutes. Chiron will be waiting for you at the Big House when you're done." His assigned task done, Mr. D began walking back to the Big House leaving the three of us alone outside of the coliseum.

Once the god was out of earshot, Annabeth said "Alright, how do you want to do this Percy?" As much as taking orders from a son of Poseidon irritated Annabeth on an unconscious level due to being a daughter of Athena, I had been right at the beginning of the quest and she was trying to put the rivalry between our parents out of the equation when it came to interacting with me. That plus the fact that the shinobi in front of her had a lot more experience than her meant that she was willing to follow my lead.

I considered her question for a moment. My original plan was to get Luke alone and go to town on the traitor before I placed him in the stasis seal in my notebook and give said seal to Chiron so that Luke could be sent to Olympus. The determined look in Annabeth's eyes though showed that she wanted to be involved in taking Luke down, something I could understand considering the history that was apparently between the two demigods. That in no way meant that I was going to let her fight Luke head on though. Not counting me Luke was the best swordsman in the camp, take away the experience difference that allowed me to use rather unorthodox methods and he was actually better than me. Of course, that was only because sword fighting hadn't been my forte back in the Elemental Nations, wind jutsu and sealing were, something Luke had no equivalents of in his arsenal. Add that into the equation and Luke was up shit creek without a paddle. Annabeth though didn't have that advantage so if she tried to go the direct approach she'd be demigod filet within a few minutes. Thankfully though, Annabeth had access to a magic item that would allow here to go another angle while I kept the traitor busy.

Plan of action now forming, I said "I'm going to form a barrier so that Luke can't escape. Grover, I want you to keep everyone else from Cabin Eleven from trying to break it or get someone else to do so. Annabeth I'm going to be blunt and say that considering how my spars with him went, in no shape or form do I want you to clash blades with Luke if he is armed, so you'll be using your invisibility hat. The first minute I am going to be using jutsu to hopefully end the fight quickly, but the fact we need Luke alive limits my repertoire to the low scale attacks. After that minute is up, while he is armed you will focus on his back while I keep his attention on me. You are only to attack his back, not his sides understood?"

Annabeth nodded understanding that I wanted to limit the danger she would be in as much as possible. I could tell it grated on her but I could also tell that she understood why I gave the orders I did. I nodded as well and the three of us entered the coliseum.

When we entered the coliseum we were met with the sight of Luke sparring with another member of Cabin Eleven with the others watching in the stands. Seeing this, I tapped Grover's shoulder and pointed to the stands. Grover nodded and walked over to stand in front of them. As he walked over to his position, I made nine clones, and walked over to the center of the coliseum, eight of the clones following. Once at the center, I gave the eight kunai with seal tags to the clones and they stabbed them into the ground to their hilts in the shape of a hundred foot wide octagon. Seeing that the barrier was ready, I pushed Annabeth to one of the kunai silently telling her to stand there. Once she was in place, I looked at the clone who was standing next to the spar that was still going on and nodded.

Seeing my nod, the clone gained an evil grin that once had Jounin running from my office happily abandoning whichever one of their students had managed to annoy me to their fate, their other two students safely tucked under their arms in order to get them out of the danger zone. Silently cackling, the clone rubbed his hands together before he walked to a spot behind Luke who currently had his blade in a lock with his opponent's. Said clone helped disengage the lock by proceeding to grab Luke's shoulder, spin him around, and slam his right knee into Luke's unprotected groin.

Me, my other eight clones, and Grover all proceeded to do the universal "OOOH!" and instinctively covered our own groins while Annabeth had a hand raised over her O shaped mouth with her eyes as wide as drachmas. Luke meanwhile was soundlessly singing soprano from the attack that seemed to him to literally come out of thin air. My clone wasn't done though yet and as Luke began to hunch over he took out his sealing notebook and unsealed what looked like a three foot long trout. My eyebrow rose as the clone proceeded to slap Luke in the face hard enough to snap Luke's back ramrod straight before he hunched down again as his right foot was stamped on. As Luke shouted in pain, my clone took a step back and his left foot began glowing as chakra surged through it. Taking a quick glance at where the octagon was to judge the distance, the clone then proceeded to slam his glowing foot into Luke's cheek which sent the traitor flying only to land in the center of the area. Despite myself, I was rather impressed with the guy considering he still had his sword in his hand after all that.

It must have been a very unusual sight for the rest of Cabin Eleven. Not being around when I cast the Genjutsu around me and my fellow questers, they had no way of seeing the three of us until I dropped said Genjutsu. To them, it simply looked like Luke for some reason spun around before he began trying to scream while grabbing his crotch before snapping ramrod straight, and then finally being sent flying by some invisible force.

PoV: Luke

If the spectators found the events of the past thirty seconds strange, I found it downright insane. I had just been sparring with one of the more promising members of my cabin when someone suddenly grabbed my shoulder and spun me around and kneed me in the groin. I had by reflex began to hunch up in an instinctive need to protect said organ when something large and scaly that I couldn't see was slapped into my face forcing my back straight. I had just enough time to register the fact that there was nothing in front of me before SOMETHING slammed down on my foot. And then SOMETHING else slammed into my face and sent my flying. I don't know how I kept my grip on Backbiter, but I was glad to still have it when I landed. Someone was going to be having a really bad day when I got through with whoever had the invisibility granting magic item, of that I was certain.

PoV: Percy/Naruto

When Luke rose from the crumpled heap that was his landing, there was a look in his eyes that said someone was ending up in the Intensive Care Unit of the nearest hospital. Too bad for him, his problems were only starting. As the clone that had the honor of starting the fight dispelled itself, I nodded to the clone closest to me on my right who nodded as well and placed his hands on the ground in front of the kunai before him and began channeling his chakra. While the clone prepared to activate the barrier, I made a gesture to Annabeth telling her to don her hat and dropped the Genjutsu when she did as I said "Having a bad day Luke?"

Luke spun around in shock and stared at me with wide eyes. At the same time, everyone in the stadium seats were startled as to their eyes Grover and I seemed to shimmer into existence. Luke frowned as he said "Percy, when did you get back from your quest? Actually, now that I think about it, how did you get to the west coast and back in only four days? And what's with the clones?"

I smirked and said "What can I say, when you're given twelve years to prepare for an unknown mission, you can make quite the support base." My smirk gained a bit of an evil look as I continued "But I don't want to talk about that. I'd rather talk about the fact that you seem to think it's alright to go steal the favorite toys of two of the elder gods."

Luke stiffened at my words before he jerked in surprise as the tags on the now revealed kunai all snapped into a straight edge position floating up as far as the strings would allow and a wall of blue chakra shot up behind me followed by seven others that completely enclosed us. As the last panel shot up into place, a ninth plate shimmered into existence fifty feet above us sealing us into the barrier. Luke looked at the barrier warily as he said "Percy, what are you doing?"

My eyes narrowed as I said "What does it look like Luke? I'm bringing in a traitor. I had a nice chat with my dad when I was returning Zeus' Master Bolt to him last night. He graciously granted me my request of being allowed to deal with you personally." My chakra began circulating faster as I slowly began using my Killing Intent. Taking a step forward, I said "You stealing from the elder gods always meant that you would be punished if caught, that is just common sense. But that stunt you pulled with those shoes of yours almost sent Grover straight into that infernal pit in the Underworld. And for that alone I'm going to enjoy making you wish that you could be put into a coma before I send you to my father."

Gesturing to the barrier around us, I said "See this barrier? I came up with it this morning. It prevents anything from going from point a to point b if said point is not within its area of affect. The only way to remove the barrier is to take one of the kunai out of the ground." I gained the same grin my clone had on his face as I said "Unfortunately for you, if anyone who wasn't the person to initiate the barrier tries to even touch one of the kunai, they get enough electricity sent through their bodies to knock an African elephant on their ass, so I wouldn't recommend you try it."

At my words, Luke's demeanor changed from that of a confused teenager to someone quite willing to commit murder as he said "Well then, I'll just have to force you to drop the barrier when I'm through with you." Shaking his head, Luke said "You know Percy, I had such high hopes for you. With your strength, you could easily have changed this world for the better. And yet you seem to have chosen the side of the gods. The same gods that you hold so much contempt for. Hypocritical much?"

I smirked as I took another step and said "Better them than Kronos Luke. That titan does not have this world's best interest in mind. It's rather unfortunate that you do not see this, which is why we are here right now. Now brace yourself!" My chakra erupted into a bonfire as I flashed through hand signs and shouted "Wind Style: Compress!" The blue bonfire surged outwards filling the air inside the barrier turning green in the second long process. And then the chakra compacted leaving Luke and I standing in a green fifty by fifty cube of chakra. Luke stiffened as the air pressure around us doubled making it feel like we were scuba diving even though we were in open air. In reverse, Annabeth was most likely feeling like she was hiking on a high mountain peak. The only one not really affected by the pressure change was me due to having used this jutsu plenty enough times to take someone who loved using speed down a notch or two to master the ability to unconsciously keep the pressure normal in a one inch shell around me.

I immediately took advantage of that fact. While Luke was struggling to understand why it was suddenly harder to get his lungs to work properly, I shot forward and grabbed Luke's wrist with my left hand hard enough to pinch a pressure point which forced Luke to reflexively drop his sword. At the same time my right hand came up and I full force back handed Luke's face snapping his head to the side and caused his body to be thrown to the side only for his right arm to go taut due to my left hand still around his wrist and a rather satisfying pop signified Luke's right shoulder dislocating. Luke's entire body jerked before he slammed onto the ground screaming bloody murder.

Unfortunately for Luke, I wasn't done yet. As Luke tried to instinctively get away from the one who caused him pain, I sent chakra through my right leg before I lifted it and slammed it into Luke's dislocated shoulder. Luke screamed even louder as the bones in his shoulder area shattered into tiny little pieces from the impact, effectively removing his primary arm out of the equation. Now sure that Luke wouldn't be at one hundred percent and thus much less of a threat to Annabeth, I jumped away from Luke and let the compression field drop normalizing the air pressure around us.

It had been tempting to just slap the stasis seal on Luke then and there but he hadn't suffered enough yet. The man had been ready to start a war, and had put Grover in serious danger. He deserved a lot more than a completely shattered shoulder in my opinion. Now that he couldn't use his predominant arm, the fight had just became that more one sided. As Luke struggled to his feet, I said "You done, or are you thirsty for more?"

Luke shot me a look of utter hatred as he snatched his blade up in his off hand. That look of hatred turned into one of scared shock as I made a gesture and green chakra exploded out of my hand forming a very large, very loudly shrieking mallet that was easily five feet wide and ten feet long. Grinning, I said "Ever played reverse whack a mole Luke?"

Luke paled at the look on my face before I swung the mallet down at him and a "Oh Shit!" look appeared on his face as he quickly dove to the side to avoid the large hammer. He paled even further when he saw how easily my wind mallet had sunk into the ground before I casually lifted it out of its hole. Still grinning, I said "Start running." I then shifted the mallet into a two handed grip and jumped at him swinging the mallet as I did at a downward diagonal angle to prevent Luke from ducking to avoid it. Luke jumped back out of the reach of the mallet before jumping back at me as soon as it passed intent on slicing me open while I was in what he assumed to be an off position.

That assumption flew in the face of the mallet changing into a normal chakra bo staff which I happily used to slap Luke in the side of the head with. As Luke sprung to his feet doing his best to ignore the pain the landing sent through his shattered shoulder, I spun the staff in my hands before putting it on my right shoulder and said "Full control of my chakra is such a wonderful thing. I could never make weapons out of chakra at this point in my first life. The only thing I could actually do in the chakra shape department was the Rasengan." The bo staff burst apart as I absorbed the chakra it was made out of. Seeing that I was temporarily without a weapon, Luke once again lunged at me only to slam into the far side of the barrier after I launched a Gale Palm at him.

As Luke once more got to his feet, I shook my head at him and said "Come not Luke, everyone holds you in such high esteem. Surely, you can do better. Here, I'll even give you a free shot."

I spread my arms out showing that I wouldn't make any moves and Luke growled at me as he began making his way over. As he did, I thought 'One last trick, then I get serious.' I was brought out of my thoughts when Luke sprinted towards me and sent an overhead swing down on my head with as much strength as he could muster. I sighed at such an obvious move and thought 'Well, I did give him a freebie.' The sword came down on my skull only to bounce off of my skin leaving only the smallest of cuts thanks to the condensed chakra I put in the area. Luke stumbled back with a look of shock on his face as I said "I cannot believe you just wasted a free shot like that Luke. I thought that you were a practical guy. I guess not, and unfortunately for you, I'm done playing games."

My Killing Intent sky rocketed as I pulled out one of my celestial kunai and I slammed the blade into Luke's hastily raised block. I could feel Luke's arm shaking through our locked blades as he struggled to maintain the lock with his off arm while I used my dominate arm with a small amount of chakra flowing through it to really make Luke sweat. Grinning at Luke, I said "Ares you are not kid." Proving my point, I twisted my kunai's blade around his and sent it downwards leaving his face wide open for the punch to the face that I launched that easily broke the traitor's nose.

Luke took a step back from the hit and I briefly felt like this fight was beyond overkill with me adding chakra into the mix for the first time in our spars before I punted that thought over a cliff with the thought that Luke was a traitor and so deserved every bit of it. I almost lazily deflected his retaliatory swing before I stepped into his guard and slammed my chakra augmented left fist into his diaphragm.

Luke's breathe left him in a whoosh of air and he stumbled back a bit before my snap round house kick to the chin broke his jaw as it sent him skyward and backwards before he slammed down onto his back ten feet from me. He quickly rolled to his left side and pushed himself up only for him to suddenly stiffen as a knife slashed into his back leaving a shallow but still painful cut going from his left shoulder to his right hip. Luke spun around with his sword swinging in a wide arc but only hit air. Turning back to glare at me, he struggled with his broken jaw to work well enough to say "How many clones did you bring in here and cover them with whatever you did to stay unnoticed?"

I snorted and said "What makes you think I'd tell you that?"'

Luke continued to glare at me only to yell in pain as he right arm was sliced into from the forearm down to the wrist. He quickly spun to attack his invisible attacker only to hit nothing but air again. As he did, I heard Annabeth quickly moving away to stand twenty feet away from us. I didn't give Luke a chance to recover from his wide swing and instead rushed the older teen and slammed my kunai hilt deep into the side of his left shoulder. Luke roared in pain as his off arm became as useless to him as his dominant and his sword dropped from now useless hands. I kicked his right knee out and Luke dropped to his knees before I hit him in the forehead with the ring of my kunai. Luke's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell backwards, out like a light.

I frowned down at his form and muttered "You deserve a lot worse traitor." Looking towards where I could hear Annabeth breathing, I said "He didn't nick you or anything did he?"

The air shimmered as she removed her Yankees cap and said "No, he didn't hit me." Coming to stand next to me, she looked down at Luke with a frown as she continued "You know, somehow I was expecting the fight to be a lot more interesting."

I snorted and said "Maybe if I had stuck with sword fighting like I normally did with him it would have. I never actually used chakra in our spars before though so he was rather woefully unprepared for it."

Annabeth gave a soft hum of agreement at that while I knelt down and place Luke into the stasis seal that had held Ares. Standing back up, I gave a nod to the clone that was facing me outside the barrier and the clone returned it as he stopped channeling chakra into the barrier. The blue walls faded away and the tags fell down from being affected by gravity once again as the clone pulled the kunai out of the ground and brought them back to me before dispelling.

Turning around to face the other members of Cabin Eleven, I saw them staring at me with uncertain looks. The barrier had hardly been sound proof so they had heard what I had said, but the fact that Luke was the thief and had tried to kill Grover was a real nasty shock to their system. Sighing, I crossed my arms and said "None of you are going to try attacking me in defense of that traitor are you?"

The people in front of me traded nervous glances before they all shook their heads at me. Nodding my own, I said "Good, now if you will excuse me, I have a traitor to give to Chiron." I began walking out of the coliseum and everybody followed me as I walked up to the Big House, the rest of Cabin Eleven asking Grover and Annabeth questions that they did their best to answer.

When we reached the Big House, Chiron was standing there in his centaur form waiting for us. He had a grim smile on his face as he said "Ah Percy, word of your successful quest has already begun to spread. Now, Mr. D said you knew who the thief was and already apprehended him?"

I nodded and slipped the paper holding the stasis seal to Chiron and said "Yes. Luke is currently inside this seal. When you give him over to dad all he has to do is rip the seal in half and it will release him from it."

Chiron nodded his understanding before he told us that he would be back within the hour. Then he galloped towards the hill before he seemed to blur away once he reached the top. I blinked at the sight wondering if all centaurs could run that fast before I shook my head and turned to head to cabin three, gesturing for Annabeth and Grover to follow.

When I reached the cabin I waved the two in before I dropped onto my bed with a heavy sigh and looked at the ceiling for a bit. Grover and Annabeth both chose a bed to sit on as they waited for me to say something.

Sighing again, I said "Our quest may be over guys but our problems have only just begun. If there is one thing that the legends say about Kronos, it's that he has no problems bringing about new eras. Something tells me though that this world will not be able to survive another Golden Age." Sitting up, I looked at the two and said "We may have prevented one war, but another attempt is sure to be on the horizon. Can I count on you two to help me when the time comes?"

"Always." Grover said and Annabeth nodded as well as she said "You have my support Percy Jackson. This I swear on my name and blood."

I nodded my thanks before I closed my eyes and thought 'Our problems have only just begun, but at least I'll be having help when the cards are thrown down. I just hope I don't have to deal with anything like the Juubi again.' Opening my eyes again, I leaned forward with a grin forming as I said "Well if you guys are going to be my side, I'm going to have to get your combat skills up to snuff by the end of the summer. And there's no better time to start than now. I suggest you two prepare yourselves, because from now on for the next two months, I'm going to be pounding some skills into those skulls of yours. You two won't so much as eat, sleep, or scratch your bums without my say so. "

Grover and Annabeth both leaned back at the sight of my grin and words before they traded a look with each other that clearly asked just what they had gotten themselves into. My grin grew at the sight before I stood up and began walking out of the cabin calling over my shoulder "Let's go guys, I've got some ideas I'd like to try." 'Oh, those two are going to be so sore tomorrow.' I cackled evilly at the thought and the two following me like they were now heading to the gallows paled even further. Meanwhile, my grin stayed firmly on my face as I thought 'It's good to be the teacher.'

Story End (For Now)

Author's Note: Sorry this is a day late, we've currently got a massive ice storm taking up residency in the south eastern part of the US and my computer wasn't happy about it. Well, this is the last chapter, It might end a little quickly but I thought it will set a good tone for the next book when I start to work on it. On another note, any of you guys recognize the three movies I quoted?


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